A Waipahu man, accused of setting his then-estranged wife’s Kakaako workplace on fire Feb. 21, 2019, threatening her boss and workers there and firing a handgun into the floor, was focused on finding his two young daughters, whom he had not heard from in five days, his lawyer said Tuesday in opening statements at trial.

Attorney Michael Park said Casey Yoshihiro Asato had been “daddy mama” for his two girls, picking them up from school daily after work, but his wife didn’t inform him where they were, and he was told the younger girl wasn’t in preschool and that he wasn’t supposed to be there because of a temporary restraining order, which wasn’t served on him until five months later.

Deputy Prosecutor Leigh Okimoto said Asato went to his wife’s workplace nearby — an auto body shop — and confronted her, but when he failed to get answers about his daughters’ whereabouts, he left, returning with a bucket of gasoline, a lighter and a semi-automatic handgun. She had left before he returned.

Casey Asato is charged with first-degree arson — a Class A felony — four counts of first-degree terroristic threatening, two counts of second-degree terroristic threatening, reckless endangering and carrying a firearm without a permit.

He appeared in court wearing a dark suit and white shirt.

Okimoto said she will share recorded evidence he had threatened her on at least two occasions, which caused her to file a TRO, but she had not had it served at the time.

The deputy prosecutor said Danielle “Dani” Loughlin Asato had pulled the girls from school and gone into hiding, staying at different hotels with her parents, because of his verbal threats.

Upon his return to her workplace, Advanced Collision Center, Asato, age 37 at the time, went to the office of Joseph Miao, his wife’s boss for 20 years, demanding he tell him where his children were.

Asato pulled out a gun from his pants’ waistband, cocked it and pointed it at Miao, then at GEICO adjusters who worked out of the shop, she said.

He then fired a shot a few feet away from Miao into the floor, Okimoto said, adding that when Asato was at the hospital, five magazines of ammunition were found in his pocket.

Asato then kicked over the bucket of gasoline and lit it, she said. With his feet on fire, he ran back to his truck and left. Okimoto told jurors they will hear the panicked 911 calls. The fire caused $170,000 in damage, she said.

Asato, a construction supervisor, went to work at three different job sites, then drove home to his Waikele townhouse on Lumiaina Street where he found police waiting. He got out of his pickup truck with his Smith and Wesson pistol in hand. Police ordered him to put it down, but he did not.

Okimoto said Asato flicked his wrist and pointed it toward police.

Police then fired shots at him, wounding him in the chest in the parking lot.

Park said his client did not flick the gun toward police, and instead had been talking with an officer who was calm and negotiating with him.

But another officer was saying, “Go for it,” Park said.

Park credits a “fantastic surgeon” with saving Asato’s life.

Okimoto told the jury that there were two threatening incidents. One was on Jan. 19, 2019, when he told her he did not want their daughter going to a religious school and was yelling at her with the children present.

Okimoto said that he told her, “Know what is my choice. My choice is to let you breathe.”

After that she let him visit the girls even at unscheduled times.

And the second incident occurred Feb. 9, 2019, when Asato told her, “The only reason the girls are with you is so I don’t have to kill your stupid ass.”

Park said it was Casey Asato who was mainly supporting the family and wanted a divorce because he was afraid his wife’s financial problems could hurt him financially, and it was she who provoked him Feb. 9, 2019, by joking about claiming the children as dependents on her tax returns.

He said she knew that would tick him off, and started recording him.

“Is this a female who is afraid for her life?” he asked. “Later she withdrew her complaint.”

Park said Miao was not fearful of Casey Asato when he asked where his family was.

“Joe laughed, ‘I don’t get involved in domestics. Hahaha,’” Park said.

“You’ll hear she was going from hotel to hotel,” but “you’ll hear inconsistencies,” including “staying at a hotel because she was leasing an apartment being renovated. I’m not sure if you’d lease an apartment being renovated.”

Park said Miao would pick her up and take her back to the hotel.

“There were alleged threats, but Mr. Asato did not mean to harm anyone. He did not mean to threaten anyone. His intent was just to find out where his children were. The threats appeared real but they also were perceived.”