“The info was put out over the radio and the vehicle was spotted by District 5 crime reduction unit officers headed east on Middle St. and turning onto Ahonui Street in Kalihi.”
KALIHI, Hawaii (KHON2) — At around 1:30 a.m. Sunday, officers arrested a 47-year-old man for the attempted murder of a police officer in Kalihi.
HPD Chief Joe Logan said officers from District 3 saw a Honda CR-V commit a traffic violation near Aloha Stadium. When the officers checked the license plate, they determined the vehicle was stolen from the Sandy Beach area on Oct. 14.
“The info was put out over the radio and the vehicle was spotted by District 5 crime reduction unit officers headed east on Middle St. and turning onto Ahonui Street in Kalihi,” Chief Logan said during a press conference on Sunday. “The vehicle stopped in the Kuhio Park Terrace parking lot and the driver fled, officers were pursuing the driver on foot when he turned and fired a single shot at the officers direction.”
The officers returned fire and the suspect had to go to the trauma center in serious condition for his wounds, according to Emergency Medical Services.
Chief Logan said the suspect was struck multiple times and was later arrested for murder in the first degree on a law enforcement officer, stolen vehicle and owning or possessing a firearm as a felon.
He said the 47-year-old suspect had a polymer ghost gun which was recovered from the scene.
The suspect has a long criminal history dating back to the late 90s with 36 convictions and 14 felonies.
He recently plead not guilty to two felony drug counts back in June 2024, and was out on a $100,000 bail.
This is the third shooting in or around a state housing complex in Kalihi in the last week.
“KPT is a hot spot if you commit a crime or need to run away that’s what everyone does,” explained one resident who lives at The Towers at Kuhio Park.
Kalihi residents said crime has always been a problem in their area, but hope more can be done with security at the gates.
“There’s two gates, so they’ll [criminals/thieves] drive into one gate, try and lose the police, and go out the other gate,” explained resident Davelyn Toyama. “It’s just known if you’re trying to run away or get away just go to KPT.”
“We have relationships with the security at the front gate, we’re still investigating those other shootings to locate suspects and victims for all those incidents,” explained Chief Logan.
The gates have signs asking drivers for identification before entering, however KHON2 did not notice any vehicles being stopped before entering and one resident said she hasn’t been asked for her ID in a long time.
“They use to check IDs,” Toyama explained, who used to do security at the complex. “I used to check every vehicle, if your car was illegal you could not enter, we would mark it and we had list but now they don’t do that anymore.”
KHON2 reached out to the state’s public housing department on Friday about security at public housing complexes but did not hear back.
This is the sixth officer-involved shooting, as compared to three this time last year.
Police do not believe this case is related to the other shootings that have happened in the area in the last week. The investigation is ongoing.