A 48-year-old Waipahu man who was convicted in the killing of a 23-year-old man in Wahiawa in 1997 shot a woman in Henderson, Nev., on Saturday before two police officers shot and killed him.
Ropati Iosefo Tauiliili of Waipahu died Saturday in the 6000 block of Eastern Avenue in Henderson, Nevada, after he opened fire on officers with a long gun, according to a statement to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser from the Henderson Police Department.
Tauiliili was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 1999 but never admitted to shooting 23-year-old Robert Morris during a confrontation outside an Ohai Place apartment in February 1997. He maintained he was not there at the time of the shooting.
The ex-gang member from Waipahu was arrested in 1997 on suspicion of second-degree murder, a week before he was to testify at a youth forum in Washington, D.C. Tauiliili agreed to plead guilty to a lesser charge of first-degree assault, first-degree terroristic threatening and a firearms charge, rather than face a third trial and a potential sentence of life in prison.
Tauiliili’s first trial ended in a deadlocked jury. Jury misconduct derailed his second trial in March 1998, after he was found guilty of manslaughter.
At about 3:45 p.m. Saturday, Henderson police officers responded to a domestic violence call in the 2000 block of Club Crest Way, near Warm Springs Road, according to police.
“Officers learned that a family member had come to the residence, battered a family member and pointed a firearm at multiple family members. The suspect left before officers arrived, and officers began searching for him,” read the statement.
Later that evening, HPD officers were called back to the same house and found an “adult woman with gunshot wounds.” Tauiliili had gone back to the home and shot into it from the outside with a long gun, police said.
She was taken to a local hospital, where she was treated and is “expected to be released,” police said. The woman’s relation to Tauiliili and why he shot her are part of the ongoing investigation, police said.
During the continuing investigation Saturday, officers learned Tauiliili was at the 6000 block of Eastern Avenue at a funeral home. He had “told an acquaintance he intended to provoke a confrontation with police and threatened suicide by cop,” police said.
Officers from the Henderson Police Department, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department and Clark County Office of Public Safety responded, along with Metro’s Air Unit. When officers arrived, Tauiliili fired at Henderson police officers and at Metro’s Air Unit drones.
Henderson Police SWAT was activated and responded to the scene, joined by Metro SWAT.
“While officers worked to establish dialogue with (Tauiliili), he fired at officers again, and two Henderson Police officers fired their weapons, striking the suspect,” police said.
Tauiliili was given immediate medical attention but died at the scene.
It is the third officer-involved shooting in the City of Henderson for 2026, police said, and the second fatal.
Henderson Police Department officers Julian Diaz and Thomas Whitney shot Tauiliili Saturday. Diaz and Whitney have been with the department since 2019. Both officers were put on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation, police said.
“We are very fortunate and grateful that our officers (and) no one in the community got hurt,” police Capt. Seth Van Beveren said during a news conference Saturday. “Our officers did what they do best … they responded and did their best to make sure we keep our community safe.”
