Armed Drug Suspect Is Fourth Person Fatally Shot By HPD Since June
Officers were serving a search warrant inside a residential high-rise apartment when the shooting occurred.
A drug suspect inside a McCully high-rise was shot and killed by a police officer Thursday night after refusing the officer鈥檚 order to put down his loaded Glock pistol, according to the Honolulu Police Department.
The shooting at Century Center, 1750 Kalakaua Ave., occurred as members of HPD’s Specialized Services Division attempted to serve a search warrant.
鈥淥fficers entered the unit, and immediately observed a bedroom door that was locked,鈥 Police Chief Susan Ballard said Friday. 鈥淭he officers were forced to break down the door and observed a male with a handgun. Despite repeated commands to drop the weapon the suspect did not comply.鈥
An officer with 13 years’ experience on the force shot the man, 55, who was taken to a local hospital and later died. Two other men, 34 and 62, were arrested and charged with third-degree promoting a dangerous drug.
The man shot by police was not the registered owner of the firearm and it had not been reported stolen, Ballard said, adding police will be speaking to the gun’s owner.
Unlike many large mainland police departments, the HPD does not release the name of residents hurt or killed during an arrest or standoff or the identity of officers who fire weapons. The police agency relies on a policy that officers are, first, city employees, and therefore, their names are protected until an investigation is completed.
Ballard said she did not know what type of drugs were being sought in the search, and search warrant documents were not made available by the courts or the department. She did confirm some drugs were retrieved from the apartment, but had not been tested.
When officers entered the apartment building, none was wearing a body camera, a new acquisition this year by the department.
鈥They have not been issued body wear cameras,鈥 Ballard said.
This is the HPD’s fourth officer-involved fatal shooting since June.
On June 1, 55-year-old Renie Cablay, a former correctional officer, was fatally shot by an officer after he was involved in a six-hour standoff at the Leolua Regent apartment complex in Waipahu. Cablay was armed with a large knife and lunged twice at the patrol officer before he was shot in the doorway of his second-story apartment, police said.
On June 24,聽Steven Hyer Jr,聽 32-year-old, was shot and killed by an officer after he began stabbing a police dog with an arrow after a seven-hour standoff.
In late July, Gavalynn Mahuka, a 53-year-old convicted felon armed with a sawed-off shotgun was shot and killed by an officer following a seven-hour standoff that started when officers tried to serve a protective order at the man’s Nanakuli home.
Officer-involved shootings like this one are now reviewed both internally by the department and by a new state聽. However, the聽board is so new聽it is not known yet what type of findings it will deliver and whether it will make any part of it public.
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