A lone patrol officer shot and killed a 27-year-old man early Tuesday morning in a grassy area of Campbell Industrial Park — the second fatal officer-involved shooting on Oahu in as many days.
Police say the man was armed with a knife and allegedly lunged at the officer.
In a press conference on the shooting Tuesday afternoon, Honolulu Police Chief Susan Ballard shared video footage from a body-worn camera showing the officer ordering the man to put down the knife, then twice using his Taser on the suspect. It also shows the man taunting the officer in response to the commands, then the officer firing his gun. But it doesn’t show the man lunging at the officer.
The suspect was wanted on an $11,000 bench warrant for a misdemeanor conviction, and was on probation for an unauthorized entry into a motor vehicle, and was riding a stolen moped.
Police said the confrontation took place after the officer spotted the 27-year-old riding a moped on the wrong side of Malakole Street shortly before 1 a.m. He followed the moped rider onto the coral beach, and into the area of the boat harbor, Ballard said.
The footage shows a grassy area not far from the edge of the water.
The man failed to follow repeated commands to put down the knife, to get on the ground, and to show his hands. The man can be heard saying, “Take a shot.”
The police officer fired the Taser, but missed. He reloaded and fired again, but the man seemed unaffected by the Taser’s probes, the footage shows. He is seen pulling the probes out from his clothing, Ballard said.
Ballard said the man lunged at the officer with a knife before the officer shot his firearm. Ballard said the area is pitch black except for lights in the distance. The body camera footage does not clearly show the scene.
The footage does show that the officer fired his gun shortly after the man started up his moped and got on.
Ballard said the officer fired four rounds, and rendered aid to the suspect.
Police said the 27-year-old was taken in critical condition to an area hospital, where he died.
It was the second deadly shooting by Honolulu police in two days and the fifth this year. It was the ninth Oahu police shooting so far this year, compared with 12 in 2018, six of them fatal.
The 40-year-old officer who fired the shots has served 13 years on the force and was placed on administrative leave, as is standard procedure.
Police opened a first-degree attempted murder, vehicle theft, and reckless driving investigation in the wake of the shooting death.
Monday’s shooting
The identity of the 34-year-old man fatally shot Monday by police at the New City Nissan in Kalihi had not been released by the Honolulu Medical Examiner’s Office Tuesday.
Ballard said the four plainclothes officers in Monday’s shooting were Crime Reduction Unit officers, who do not currently wear body cameras.
That fatal police shooting occurred about 10 a.m. after officers confronted two men who were wearing ski masks and sitting in a vehicle parked at Sam’s Club in Pearl City. They fled as the driver rammed into an unmarked police vehicle, and the officers gave chase.
The driver dropped off the passenger in Aiea then headed to Kalihi with police in pursuit. Ballard said that at about 11 a.m., he got out of his vehicle near the intersection of Middle and North King streets, fell to the ground and began firing at CRU officers, who fired back.
The suspect ran to the Nissan dealership, where people from the service department and in the parking lot had heard the shots fired at the first location.
John Uekawa, New City Nissan president and general manager, said about 10 to 12 people were in the parking lot in front of the showroom when the shooting on North King occurred.
“You could hear the shots from here (from over) there,” he said, pointing to the intersection.
Most ran for cover, “That’s why the lot was mostly empty, Uekawa said. But two of his employees ran into the showroom and alerted the others. Mark Cantorna said there was an active shooter, he said.
Jason Jenkins started to shout to get down, warning the roughly 20 to 30 employees and customers in the building at the time of the shooting. He grabbed a customer and pulled her down behind the counter, Uekawa said.
Uekawa praised the employees, adding that service customer Jonathan Knox, whose car was parked in front of the building, acted quickly to save a 6-month old baby being placed in a stroller by the mother. Knox picked up the stroller with the baby inside and carried the child to safety where police had gathered.
Meanwhile, the CRU officers, positioned near a stop sign 25 feet away, shot the suspect dead, said Uekawa, pointing to the blood stain on the pavement just outside the glass-walled showroom.
On Tuesday, one window struck by a bullet was boarded up, while the other double-paned window had damage just to the outer pane as the bullet went into the window frame 15 feet up.
Uekawa said four cars were damaged, including Knox’s and a service vehicle. Two new ones had bullet holes in them, one in a headlight and the other in the hood.
Most of the customers were toward the back of the showroom in a lounge area, he said.
Uekawa said the photos and video by one employee spread virally in 15 minutes on Facebook. He asked employees not to speak to the media if they did not see anything.
One photo showed an employee, who some mistook for the suspect, he said.
“This whole place was a crime scene,” he said, and everyone remained there for seven hours.
“We were blessed no one got hurt,” he said. “Can you imagine if he ended up in the showroom?”
He commended police. “I’m assuming they were thinking he would enter inside here.”
Police said the 34-year-old suspect has two terroristic threatening convictions and is wanted in another jurisdiction.
