Man killed in Kailua shooting identified as escapee

Honolulu police identified the man shot and killed by officers Monday afternoon in Kailua as an escaped work furlough inmate serving time for first-degree burglary.

Dallas Pearce, 33, was an inmate at Laumaka Work Furlough Center in a work furlough program and had pass privileges, according to the Department of Public Safety. DPS sent a notice Nov. 19 saying Pearce had failed to return to the center as scheduled.

During a news conference held Tuesday afternoon to discuss the incident, Honolulu Police Department Deputy Chief John McCarthy identified Pearce as the person killed in the shooting. Officers shot Pearce after approaching him in a parked car at Aikahi Gardens around 3 p.m. Monday.

McCarthy said Pearce had three felony convictions “for burglary and drugs.”

He was found guilty of first-degree burglary in 2012 and third-degree promoting dangerous drugs in 2011.

McCarthy said plainclothes officers were looking for Pearce in the area and identified him sitting in a Chrysler PT Cruiser. They approached Pearce, and the interaction escalated to a struggle between him and the officers over a gun in Pearce’s possession.

Police reports show that Pearce was “reaching for a possible weapon that was in his pants pocket.”

A 41-year-old woman came out of one of the neighborhood apartments during the incident and apparently interfered with the officers.

Pearce did not leave the car and was eventually shot during the struggle.

“From the beginning, and several times after, officers repeatedly shouted out commands for Pearce to give himself up and for the female to stop interfering and stand back,” McCarthy said. “None of these demands were met. … Out of the fear of their own safety and the concerns for the safety of others, (the officers) fired multiple shots at Pearce.”

A witness said Monday that he heard the woman screaming at police officers to not fire at Pearce.

McCarthy would not say whether Pearce threatened the officers with the gun, but only that he was “noncompliant” and that the officers feared for their own safety and the safety of others. He said the gun was in Pearce’s “possession” but did not specify how.

McCarthy said Pearce was pulled out of the car after being shot, and officers administered CPR on him. He was transported to a nearby hospital, where he died.

Two officers fired their guns four to five times during the incident and were not injured. They were given three days of administrative leave as is protocol.

The case is classified as attempted first-degree murder, which includes attempted murder of a police officer. The woman was arrested for first-degree hindering prosecution, and McCarthy said she had one prior drug-related conviction. She is still in custody.

McCarthy said the woman and Pearce knew each other, but he did not know the extent of their relationship.

The witness to the incident said those involved in the incident were part of a known “troubled group.” Other residents said the neighborhood is normally safe and quiet.

Monday’s shooting represents the first person fatally shot by police on Oahu in 2020. There were nine police shootings in 2019, five of them resulting in fatalities, HPD said.