An hours-long barricade situation involving a 48-year-old armed man who was holed up in a Waikiki hotel room ended early Friday after police officers fatally shot him while he was holding a gun, according to Honolulu Police Chief Arthur “Joe” Logan.
The Honolulu Medical Examiner’s Office had yet to release the man’s name pending notification of his next of kin. During a news conference Friday morning at HPD headquarters, Logan said the man had a local address and was staying as a guest at the Ohia Waikiki Studio Suites at 2280 Kuhio Ave. He was the only person in the unit when he barricaded himself in the room.
Police had responded to a call from hotel staff at about 1:45 p.m. Thursday to assist in escorting a man off the property from a fifth-floor unit. Upon arrival, officers heard a gunshot fired from within the unit, prompting an evacuation of all guests from the building.
Crisis negotiators and officers from HPD’s Specialized Services Division arrived and tried multiple times to establish contact with the barricaded man to no avail, Logan said. Police fired a “less lethal” wooden round into the unit, he said, and shortly after midnight deployed a remote-controlled robot to enter the unit while SSD officers waited in the hallway.
After repeated orders to exit the hotel room, the man walked into the hallway with his hands in the air holding a handgun, according to Logan. Despite repeated orders to stop and put down the firearm, the man continued to advance toward the officers and eventually lowered his hand holding the gun, the chief said.
When asked to clarify whether the man pointed his gun at the officers before he was shot, Logan said, “We’re still investigating that part, but we believe that the suspect was lowering the arm with the firearm in it toward the officers when they fired.”
Video footage released by HPD shows a man walking down the hallway toward the camera with his arms raised above his head, holding a firearm in his right hand. He then appears to stumble forward and drops to the ground mostly outside of the camera’s view. The video has no audio and does not show the officers in the hallway, and it’s unclear at what point police fired their weapons at him.
An Emergency Medical Services ambulance transported the wounded man in critical condition to a hospital where he died.
During the lengthy barricade the man fired approximately eight rounds from what is believed to be a 9-mm “ghost gun.” A ghost gun is an untraceable firearm with no serial numbers.
Logan said at least one of the rounds struck a police vehicle parked on the street.
“We were hoping this incident did not result in loss of life. It’s not the outcome we wanted, but we are grateful that no one else was hurt,” Logan said.
The nonprofit Visitor Aloha Society of Hawaii assisted about 90 hotel guests who were evacuated from the Ohia Waikiki. They were confused, anxious and wanted to know what was happening, said VASH President and CEO Jessica Lani Rich.
About 70 of the hotel guests were international students from Switzerland, the Netherlands, France and other countries, and about 20 guests were from the mainland.
VASH coordinated with Charley’s Taxi to send 25 cabs to the Ohia Waikiki to drive guests to the Hilton Hawaiian Village, where they were temporarily housed in a ballroom. Hotel staff provided them with blankets and drinks, and VASH ordered 30 extra-large pizzas delivered from Domino’s.
When the barricade ended, a majority of the hotel guests returned to the Ohia Waikiki, and a few others made arrangements to stay elsewhere.
