The 59-year-old man fatally shot Saturday night after he rammed his neighbor’s home with a front loader and shot and killed three women had threatened gun violence against his victims’ family twice before, an attorney representing a family member says.
In 2021 and 2022 Hiram James Silva Sr. “threatened to shoot” the Keamo family, said Michael Green, attorney for 42-year-old Rishard Kanaka Keamo-Carnate, who shot and killed Silva Saturday.
The Keamo and Silva families clashed Saturday over a loud party and speeding cars at the nonpermitted commercial venue that Silva operated.
Keamo-Carnate was arrested on suspicion of
second-degree murder at
12:15 a.m. Sunday at 85-1373 Waianae Valley Road and released pending further investigation at 7:55 p.m. Sunday.
Green told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser Wednesday that Keamo-Carnate is a licensed firearm owner and Honolulu police Chief Arthur “Joe” Logan said Tuesday that the handgun used to shoot and kill Silva, a Waianae businessman, was registered.
Green said his client, who lived in the home on Waianae Valley Road where Silva shot five people Saturday night, believes Silva was trying to drive the front loader, packed with 55-gallon drums of fuel, into the house, hold the 15-20 people inside at gunpoint, and set the house on fire.
When Silva started shooting, the 15 to 20 family members and friends at the Keamo home Saturday night for a party cowered in the backyard seeking shelter, Green said. The only thing that stopped Silva from getting into the house with that equipment was the eaves of the house, he said.
“Then (Silva) got out (of the front loader) and started shooting holes in the barrels. He was going into the house … he was going to keep people there and set the place on fire … there was a party that night (on Silva’s property), somebody (from the Keamo family) went over there to talk to them … the cops got there (earlier in the night) but the cops couldn’t get in because (Silva) had his gate closed,” said Green.
“Then the guy (Silva) went nuts. This isn’t one on one where someone says ‘he shot first.’ This guy was bent on a massacre,” the attorney said. “The five people (were) the tip of the iceberg. He was going to set the place on fire.”
A Honolulu Police Department spokesperson told the Star-Advertiser that a review of calls for service Saturday night did not indicate that officers were called to Silva’s 19-acre property at 85-1383-C Waianae Valley Road, prior to the gunfire.
Keamo-Carnate saw Silva drive into the property and start shooting. In addition to trying to “protect his family and others” he thought that Silva was going to “blow up the place,” Green said.
“They (police and prosecutors) will run it down, interview witnesses, but they wound be crazy to charge him,” said Green.
The Department of the Prosecuting attorney does not comment on charging decisions. As of Wednesday afternoon, no charges had been filed against Keamo-Carnate.
Keamo-Carnate lived in the home Silva attacked with his wife, children and mother-in-law.
Green said he is considering civil actions against
Silva’s estate and other potential sources of liability.
“This is not over. Money is not going to reclaim anything,” Green said. “He can’t get into his head what he just saw happen then he’s locked … in a cell … Its unbelievable.”
Green alleged that a Silva family member threatened to return to the scene after Silva was killed.
On Tuesday, Logan urged calm and said anyone with any evidence of plans to retaliate for Saturday’s shootings or threats between the Keamo and Silva families, should call 911 and report it to police immediately.
The city Department of the Medical Examiner on Wednesday identified Silva and the three others killed Saturday after the neighbor-on-neighbor dispute ended in fatal gunshots. Silva died of a “gunshot wound of the torso.”
The Medical Examiner listed his age as 59, while HPD initially said he was 58.
The Medical Examiner’s office also released the identities of Silva’s three victims: Cherell Keamo, 36, died from a “gunshot wound of the head”; Courtney Raymond-Arakaki, 34, died of “multiple gunshot wounds”; and Jessyca Amasiu, 29, died of “multiple gunshot wounds,” according to the medical examiner.
The manner of death for all four was homicide.
Two other people, a 52-year-old woman and a 31-year-old man, were critically wounded in the rampage. A Keamo family representative said Monday that the two successfully underwent surgery but remained hospitalized.
