Waikiki Businesses Want More Info About Shooting
The lack of information about a fatal Waikiki shooting is frustrating business owners and employees in the neighborhood.
“They’re not telling us anything,” said Robert Hackney, owner of A Tiki Tattoo, two doors down from the McDonald’s on Kuhio Avenue where the shooting occurred. “It’s not like they don’t know what happened, so to hold back information is stupid. I’m really pissed that they’re not telling us.”
Christopher Deedy, a 27-year-old federal agent with the U.S. State Department, has been charged with second-degree murder in connection with the early Saturday morning shooting. He posted $250,000 bail and was released Monday. His first court appearance is Nov. 17 — a few days after the APEC summit that brought him to Hawaii wraps up.
In the grass outside the McDonald’s is a small memorial for 23-year-old Kollin Elderts of Kailua, who died of a single gunshot wound to the chest.
Hackney said rumors are flying about why and how Deedy and Elderts got into the argument that escalated into fatal gunfire. Hackney doesn’t know what to believe anymore.
Racial tension in the area seems elevated and will probably stay that way until there are answers, he said.
“I’m sure there’s a lot of brown-white mentality that’s feeding on this,” he explained.
Kazue Kobayashi, a receptionist at a massage parlor above A Tiki Tattoo, said it’s not unusual for people to get drunk nearby and come carousing down the street at night. It’s a product of tourism, but until now she hadn’t felt it was dangerous.
She suspects authorities are keeping a lid on details in order to maintain a positive image for Hawaii and the State Department this week during APEC. A McDonald’s manager said her employees were not authorized to talk.
Jeremy Kircher, an employee at Tropical Dreams, an ice cream shop around the corner from McDonald’s, said he doesn’t feel unsafe in the neighborhood.
“It was a rare thing, and even more so because it was a federal agent involved,” he said. “It wasn’t someone from here. It sucks a lot.”
Kumi Morishima, who was wrapping up her lunch break at one of the nearby food stands, said it seems like if you talk loudly anymore, you’ll get shot. She and shop employee Mike Corpez said they don’t feel safe anymore, because it seems like “anyone can become a cop now.”
Morishima acknowledged that she doesn’t know what started the confrontation between Deedy and Elderts, and said she hopes the truth comes out after APEC. She doesn’t expect it to come out before then.
