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A Hilo family lost a grandfather and a son to a deadly cycle of domestic violence Sunday night when a 91-year-old man suffered an apparent heart attack while a 34-year-old felon with multiple convictions for household abuse died in a shootout with police officers responding to a call that he was assaulting his mother.
Ryan Yukiharu Santos of Hilo was shot at least once by a 13-year veteran of the Hawaii Police Department after he opened fire on four South Hilo patrol officers who arrived at a home on Mokuhonua Lane shortly after 7 p.m. Sunday, according to Hawaii Police Chief Paul Ferreira.
During the fire fight with police, Santos’ 91-year-old grandfather, Ichiro Nakamura, appeared to go into cardiac arrest, police said. Medics took him to Hilo Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.
Nakamura died from a medical condition, according to police, and an autopsy is scheduled for today for both men.
Domestic violence cases on Hawaii island and across the state started to rise when the pandemic forced government to lock down the community, according to police and the Domestic Violence Action Center. On Hawaii island, domestic violence professionals are seeing an increase in severe violence over the last two months, according to Child & Family Service of East Hawaii.
“Since COVID there has been an uptick in domestic violence calls, primarily because we believe people are confined to their homes or restricted to their houses and violence does happen,” said Ferreira, speaking to reporters Monday via Zoom.
Nanci Kreidman, chief executive officer of the Domestic Violence Action Center, said safety plans for victims completed by their staff increased 55.8% to 848 in April from 544 in the year-ago period. Help-line calls have increased to 248 from 179 over the same period, she said. The center used to receive eight to 10 calls a day. It is not uncommon now to see 22 calls in a day, she said.
“Domestic violence is a potentially fatal crime, as we see with this situation. Don’t look away. Don’t minimize. Don’t judge,” Kreidman told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. “Safe families are at the core of a healthy community.”
Christine Terry, director of East Hawaii Island programs for Child & Family Service, said the stressors that often lead to domestic violence, like poverty and unemployment, were around well before COVID-19, and the pandemic further stressed a susceptible demographic.
“All of those stressors have not necessarily been fixed; they were compounded by the pandemic,” Terry told the Star-Advertiser. “It seems that the acts of violence have been much more extreme. I’ve noticed that in the last couple of months. It’s not just intimate partner violence; it’s violence perpetrated by a household member, such as a child to a parent.”
On Sunday night at about 7:10 p.m., Santos’ younger brother called 911 to report that Santos was assaulting their mother. Officers were told that firearms may be in the home but not that Santos was armed, police said.
Upon arriving at the home, the four officers made contact with Santos, who was standing in a doorway in the garage leading into the home. Santos told the officers everything was fine and closed the door, Ferreira said. Police told Santos they needed to check on the welfare of the caller and the other members of the home.
Officers walked up to the front door, saw Santos’ aunt standing in the living room and asked whether everything was OK.
“Immediately after making contact with his aunt, Ryan Santos emerged from the kitchen with a rifle and aimed it at the officers. Officers immediately began retreating from the residence seeking cover. Santos opened fire on the officers, yelling and swearing as they retreated,” said Ferreira.
Santos walked out of the house onto the balcony and continued to fire on the four officers. The officer with 13 years of service ran to his patrol car and retrieved his department-certified Colt AR 15 .223-caliber rifle. The officer took cover behind an abandoned vehicle on the street fronting Santos’ home and fired four to five times at Santos, police said, hitting him at least once.
“After being shot, Santos was able to retreat back into the home where he succumbed to his injuries,” Ferreira said.
Police and responding paramedics performed CPR on Santos, but he died at the scene.
As a convicted felon, Santos was prohibited from owning a firearm, and police are investigating the small arsenal recovered from him. Officers recovered a AR-15 ghost gun — a weapon without a serial number or registration that is bought in pieces and assembled by the user — a bolt-action rifle and two shotguns.
He fired about 30 rounds at the officers, hitting four police vehicles and an unoccupied home nearby. No one other than Santos and his grandfather was injured.
Court documents show Santos was scheduled to appear June 23 in Family Court for an abuse of a family or household member case that allegedly occurred May 10.
As a condition of his bail in that case, Santos was ordered to stay at least 100 yards away from the home or business of a 47-year-old Hilo woman after he allegedly abused her. The Star-Advertiser is electing not to name the woman involved in the May 10 case.
Santos has a criminal record of one felony conviction for assault, five misdemeanor convictions for abuse of a family or household member, assault and criminal contempt of court, and two petty misdemeanor convictions for assault and criminal property damage.
Officers closed Wainaku Street between Akahai Place and Vierra Lane for several hours to investigate.
Neighbors said they heard multiple shots at the time.
A resident who has lived on Mokuhonua Lane for more than 30 years said she initially heard four shots, one after another. The resident, who declined to give her name, said there was a slight pause after the four shots, “then all hell broke loose.”
“It was a shootout or something,” she said. It was frightening, she added, noting the neighborhood is usually quiet.
Gwendolyn Quinories, a resident who lives on nearby Akamai Loop, also heard multiple shots. “My sister thought it was fireworks. … I was thinking to myself that’s not fireworks,” she said. “The shots were clear as day.”
The Police Department is investigating, and the responding officers have been placed on administrative leave, which is standard protocol after a police shooting.
Kreidman said domestic abusers engage in an escalating cycle of violence that can turn deadly if victims don’t get help.
“What starts as name-calling or degrading emotional attacks turns into a push, then a punch — not always, but often. And it occurs more frequently. Without consequences or sanctions, abusers continue that behavior,” she said. “They are getting away with it and getting what they want (through force), so they keep doing it.”
Coming forward to get help is scary but a necessary first step to snapping the cycle of violence, she said.
“You can call us confidentially, ask any questions you may have and make the decision when you are ready,” Kreidman said. “Not everyone moves or makes the same choices. We have to give people room to make the choices that work for them. If you know someone, let them know you are concerned about their safety and it is not their responsibility to change the abuser’s behavior.
“There isn’t anything a survivor can do to stop the abuse. If they could, they would have. Listen with an open heart. Understand the delicate nature of the conversation and the circumstances. Not everyone has to be an expert. Encourage people to call us or chat with us or text us, and we can provide the support they need. Living with a regret is a horrible life sentence.”
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