Honolulu police officers and Hibiscus Drive residents recall a calamity that killed 4

After two days of Kona rain, Tuesday, the first anniversary of what has become known as the Hibiscus Drive tragedy, was bright and sunny, with stiff tradewinds, the weather uncannily similar to that of Jan. 19, 2020, when four people, including two Honolulu Police Department officers, died at 3015 Hibiscus Drive and four houses burned to the ground.

After a year that began with residents of the block ordered to evacuate their homes for days while power was shut off and HECO crews repaired burned utility poles, and ended with people worldwide confined to their homes due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Hibiscus Drive neighbors marked their sad anniversary quietly, without gathering at the cleared lots, hidden behind tall black screens, where a few simple floral strands lay freshly draped over a white fence and gate that had survived the fire.

“I miss the camaraderie and closeness of the ’hood,” said neighborhood resident and real-estate commentator Stephany Sofos, noting that although the owners of three of the destroyed homes have announced their plans to rebuild and remain, they are living elsewhere; the next-door neighbor whose house was badly damaged has sold it; a family who lived across the street and whose children witnessed the shootings and conflagration has also moved, renting out their house; two other homes on the block are up for sale; and 3015 Hibiscus Drive itself is in escrow.

Along the length of the empty lots, Hibiscus Drive lay empty and still until, shortly before 11 a.m., about 20 HPD officers arrived in two vans to honor their fallen comrades.

A contractor working on the home site opened up the gate, and in silence the officers walked through and stood gazing at the place where their fellow officers Tiffany Enriquez, 38, and Kaulike Kalama, 34, were fatally shot.

The two had been responding to calls from neighbors reporting assaults by Jerry “Jarda” Hanel, 69, against his landlady, Lois Cain, 77, when they were ambushed and gunned down by Hanel as they walked down the driveway of 3015 Hibiscus Drive.

In the ensuing shootout, fire broke out in 3015 and leapt from house to house while firefighters were held back by police because the suspect was still at large; in the end, seven houses were destroyed, and investigators found the remains of Cain and Hanel in the blackened ruins of her house.

In a phone call Tuesday, a spokeswoman for the Honolulu Medical Examiner’s Office reported the cause and manner of death for the officers and civilians.

Tiffany Enriquez was found to have died of a gunshot wound to her torso, and Kaulike Kalama to have died of gunshot wound to his chest; both deaths were listed as homicides.

Lois Cain was found to have died of conflagration injuries; her death was listed as a homicide.

Jerry Hanel was found to have died of probable gunshot wounds; his death was listed as a suicide.

Michelle Yu, spokeswoman for HPD, said in an email Tuesday that the Police Department’s investigation is in its final stages and expected to be completed next month.

Officers on the scene didn’t know Hanel had a firearm. There was no firearm registered to him.

“Information about the firearm that was used will be included in the report,” Yu added.

Also on Tuesday the Honolulu Fire Department, by email, gave the results of its investigation of the fires.

The cause was determined to be explosives or combustibles at the site, but due to the heat of the fire, an exact location could not be determined, wrote Carl Otsuka, acting public information officer and a fire inspector with HFD’s community relations office.

There were initial reports that Hanel had a cache of ammunition that exploded, causing the fire.

The spread of fires to neighboring houses was due to radiated heat, and active firefighting had been delayed because of “the uncertainty of the location of the active shooter who killed two HPD officers.”

In all, 13 homes were damaged or lost due to the fire, and the total estimated loss of all the homes combined was $3.926 million, HFD said.

In addition, eight private vehicles and two HPD vehicles “were total losses due to the fires.”

Also lost, as Sofos and other residents said, was the sense of friendly cohesion that had bound the neighborhood, which gathered for a potluck barbecue in the park every Fourth of July for more than a decade.

At first Hanel had participated, but over the years his mental condition declined and his behavior became hostile, leading four neighbors to file temporary restraining orders against him; Cain herself had filed an eviction notice against Hanel four days before her death.

Residents said the tragedy might have been averted if authorities had taken more action in response to prior complaints about Hanel’s threatening behavior.

Inspired by the Hibiscus Drive tragedy, mental health and gun bills were introduced in the state Legislature in early 2020, but none were passed.

It was a poignant 25 minutes as the officers stood in unison, visibly saddened and moved despite the sunglasses many of them wore, taking in the empty, sloping fields where four houses had stood, now covered partly by green wild grass surrounding the remains of concrete foundation platforms.

After they left, Hibiscus Drive was empty for a few minutes, until a squad car pulled up and a single officer climbed out and walked over to the gate, where he stood in contemplation for a time.

Star-Advertiser photographer Jamm Aquino contributed to this report.