A Wave Of Westside Shootings Has People Saying ‘Enough Is Enough.’ But What More Can Be Done?
Honolulu police promised to step up officer patrols in the area, where residents have long felt neglected by city services.
People living on Oahu鈥檚 Westside have noticed more law enforcement officers patrolling the area during the past few weeks as the Honolulu Police Department pledged to increase the number of officers in the wake of recent high-profile shootings.
Officials and some residents said that’s a good start, but more needs to be done to have a long-term effect on curbing the violence.
Public safety concerns were amplified this weekend when four people were killed at a house on Waianae Valley Road after a man driving a tractor rammed cars in a carport and opened fire on people trying to flee the scene, killing three women. The shooter was then shot to death by a resident, who was arrested and later released pending investigation.
The recent spate of violence has led to calls for more action by the police but also for the community to step up and help prevent criminal activity before it takes place.
Starting in mid-August, additional city and state officers hit the streets. The exact numbers of additional officers from that weekend is unclear, but HPD expressed an intent to stay present in the area to help deter crime.
Speaking at a press conference Sunday, Honolulu Police Chief Joe Logan would not say how many officers were deployed in District 8, the police district that includes Waianae, but said the district was at 100% staffing this past weekend. He said the district was fully staffed last week.
City Council member Andria Tupola, who represents the Westside, said the expanded police coverage was good but not enough.
鈥淭he high presence that weekend basically just gave the community comfort that something was being done,鈥 she said last week.
More Enforcement
Security has long been a concern on the Leeward Side, and residents have felt neglected by city officials. Underscoring the frustration on both sides, Mayor Rick Blangiardi said during a May town hall in Waianae that there needs to be more oversight from community members too, referencing the police鈥檚 rampant vacancies and difficulty recruiting and retaining officers.
鈥淲hy isn鈥檛 the community doing more? The police can鈥檛 do everything,鈥 he said .
But recent events have changed that posture.
In mid-August, two teenagers in Waianae were shot and hospitalized. The day before, a man in Waianae shot three people before being killed by a police officer. And the week before that, a shooting at the Waianae Boat Harbor left a 31-year-old man dead.
City and state officials pledged a united front against gun violence during a press conference on Aug. 16 at Honolulu Hale. It included Blangiardi, Tupola, Logan, Gov. Josh Green, Rep. Cedric Gates, Rep. Darius Kila and U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda.
Officials took a tough-on-crime stance, with Logan pledging to send more officers to the Leeward Side and Blangiardi saying 鈥渆nough is enough.鈥
鈥淗aving multiple shootings this past week becomes a proverbial breaking point,鈥 Blangiardi said.
When pressed to specify how many officers he intended to send over, Logan said he couldn鈥檛 make an exact prediction because the department was relying on people to sign themselves up for overtime or volunteer opportunities.
But there ended up being noticeably more officers than normal, residents said.
HPD fielded an additional one dozen to four dozen officers that weekend, depending on the day and time, spokesperson Michelle Yu said in a email. She said that over 140 citations were given for vehicle- and traffic-related offenses.聽
State officers were also deployed from the Department of Law Enforcement and the Department of Land and Natural Resources鈥 division of conservation and resources enforcement.
DOCARE had anywhere from three to four officers at any time posted at the harbor, DLE deputy director of administration Michael Vincent estimated.
The Department of Law Enforcement, meanwhile, deployed at least four to six vehicles during the mid-August weekend, and has started to include Waianae Small Boat Harbor in regular daily patrols.聽
The plan was to continue this at least through the end of October. The department also sent HPD its longer-term plan for ongoing actions, which specified the division of responsibility between DLE, DLNR and HPD when an incident occurs, Vincent said.
‘How Are They Getting These Guns?’
The harbor is a hotspot for confrontations, including one of the recent shootings.
鈥淚鈥檝e seen many fights over the years break out over there,鈥 Waianae neighborhood board member Kalei Wilbur said.
Wilbur appreciated the influx of officers. But he thinks that a higher police presence alone isn鈥檛 sufficient for preventing violent crime, and that it can be hard to stamp out confrontations because people end up just finding new locations to meet.
鈥淭he really big question is how are they getting these guns,鈥 he said.
One consensus from officials is that so-called ghost guns, which are constructed by 3D-printing their parts, are too easy to obtain from the internet. Hawaii鈥檚 strong laws against guns have been challenged since a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision .
鈥淨uite frankly 鈥 and I鈥檓 not an attorney 鈥 I think we have to look beyond these protections of constitutionality,鈥 Tokuda said at the mid-August press conference.
Tupola said the Westside needs far more police officers on a regular basis and quicker prosecutions of wrongdoers.
She also wants to see a plan that goes beyond upping law enforcement to include more support for victims and community improvements, like painting a mural on a grocery store wall to discourage vandalism and holding a luau at a public housing complex.
鈥淚鈥檓 just saying, the kind of resources we need 鈥 I don鈥檛 think that it鈥檚 been fully comprehended that we are short, and doing way more with way less,鈥 she said.
Civil Beat reporter Madeleine Valera contributed to this report.
