The Honolulu Medical Examiner’s Office has identified a 41-year-old man whom police fatally shot after they said he “rushed toward” an officer with a machete in Kalihi early Wednesday.
He was identified as Elia S. Laeli. The Medical Examiner’s Office listed Laeli as homeless.
Honolulu police said officers responded to an assault call before 2:30 a.m. at the 1300 block of North School Street.
The suspect now identified as Laeli severed another man’s pinkie finger with a machete, according to the police.
At a Wednesday afternoon news conference, interim Police Chief Rade Vanic said that when officers arrived they were confronted by the suspect who was armed with a machete.
Officers repeatedly ordered him to drop the machete, but the suspect ignored their commands and “rushed toward” one officer, Vanic said.
Two officers fired several shots, hitting the suspect.
Laeli was taken in critical condition to a hospital where he died of multiple gunshot wounds.
The Police Department has opened a first-degree attempted murder and first-degree assault investigation against Laeli.
Bystanders and police said the assault occurred in a parking lot next to an illegal game room.
It’s not immediately known whether the assault against the 33-year-old man has any connection to the game room. He was taken in serious condition to The Queen’s Medical Center.
Records show Laeli served two days in jail in June 2020 for harassment, a petty misdemeanor, involving another man.
A month later the court issued a bench warrant for his arrest after prosecutors charged him with promoting a dangerous drug in the third degree, a Class C felony. Court documents alleged he was in possession of methamphetamine in May 2020.
Court documents also show police cited Laeli in April 2020 for allegedly violating COVID-19 emergency mandates concerning essential operations and social gathering mandates after officers found him in an illegal game room at 1329 N. School St. The case was dismissed eight months later due to lack of prosecution.
