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A Honolulu police officer killed an armed suspect in Waianae Wednesday night after he had shot three people and refused to drop his weapon, according to Honolulu police Chief Joe Logan. 

Officers responded to reports of an argument in the street and shots fired on Puhinalo Place after 6 p.m. Wednesday, Logan told reporters during a news conference Thursday. 

They heard screaming coming from inside a house and went around to the back, where they saw a man armed with a handgun standing inside a shattered glass door, he said. 

The officer closest to the man ordered him to drop his weapon, but he instead pulled back and released the gun’s slide, which loads the firearm and prepares it to fire, Logan said. At that point, the officer fired two rounds at him, and he fell to the ground. Officers administered first aid until paramedics arrived. 

The suspect had previously fired four shots into the home, which belongs to a relative of his girlfriend, and injured three people — two women ages 32 and 34 and one 25-year-old man. He had been arguing with his girlfriend, who is 76, prior to the shooting and assaulted her, but she was not one of the people shot, Logan said. 

The handgun he used had been stolen, Logan said, and officers found a homemade rifle in his home. 

The three people injured are expected to recover, and no officers were hurt, he said. 

The officer who shot the suspect is assigned to District 8 in Waianae and has four years of experience. He has been offered administrative leave. 

The suspect’s name will be released by the Honolulu Medical Examiner’s Office. Logan said the man’s record included 14 prior convictions, and police had responded to his home for terroristic threatening in 2023 and a domestic argument involving his girlfriend in 2022. 

He did have a registered firearm, but officers could not find it in his house, Logan said. 

The officers involved in the shooting were wearing body cameras, and Logan said the police department would release the video but did not give a timeline. 

The shooting was the fourth officer-involved shooting this year. Officers shot and killed 56-year-old Eric John Walsh in Waikiki on July 19 after he barricaded himself in a condo and pointed a gun at officers. Brandan Maroney, 35, was killed by an officer on Jan. 25 after he was seen walking in the middle of Farrington Highway in Makaha with a knife. Officers fatally shot Sidney Tafokitau, 44, in Honolulu after an island-wide manhunt and pursuit.

Body camera or other video footage has not been released in any of the incidents so far. 

District 8, which stretches from Ewa Beach to Kaena Point, has experienced the most violent crime on Oahu this year. So far, there have been 134 aggravated assaults and four murders and non-negligent manslaughters, according to Honolulu police data. Last year, there were 10 murders and non-negligent manslaughters and 253 aggravated assaults.

Last week, a 31-year-old man was at the Waianae Boat Harbor, according to HNN.

When asked what he planned to do to address the violence, Logan did not lay out a strategy or promise to send more police resources to West Oahu. He instead emphasized the need for community members to come forward and share more information with police. 

“We need everybody’s help,” he said. “This is not just a police issue, this is a community issue.”