 Police 911 tape (636 kb)
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By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer
Moments before Cherry Ann Cachola Domingo was shot and killed by her former boyfriend, a man who had come to her aid had stared into the barrel of a sawed-off shotgun.
"It looked like a double-barrel," he gasped as he called 911 Saturday night from Ala Moana Center. "I didn’t look at that that closely, either. I was sort of taking off. He waved it at me and cocked it."
"As I rounded the corner I heard him say, ‘Do you want me to kill you?’ Then I heard the shotgun go off. I have no idea how the girl is. I kind of want to go back, but ..."
The gunman was Michell Udani, 26, who police said fired two shotgun blasts at close range, killing Domingo. Udani was later shot and killed by police after he fired at arriving officers.
The witness’s report was one of two calls on the 911 tapes released by police yesterday.
According to the tapes, the man, whose name was not released, told the 911 operator that he approached a white Mercedes-Benz sport-utility vehicle where a man was beating a woman, and that he was threatened with a gun.
"I’m at the Ala Moana shopping center," he said on the tapes. "I saw a guy wrestle with a girl, and (he) pulled out a shotgun. He chased me off, and I heard a shotgun fire."
Police conclude boyfriend killed Domingo
Police yesterday completed the investigation into Domingo’s death. They said they concluded that Domingo, manager at LensCrafters in the shopping center, was shot twice by Udani, father of their 1-year-old child, Leeona Elizabeth.
"We closed our case," homicide Lt. Bill Kato said. "She was killed by her boyfriend. According to the autopsy, what killed her was two contact wounds from the shotgun to the head." The shots were fired from "very close," perhaps six inches away, he said.
Kato said Domingo’s arms were bruised, and the autopsy found no other bullet wounds. It confirmed that the five officers who returned fire at Udani did not fire at the Mercedes-Benz vehicle and strike Domingo, he said.
The five officers involved in the shooting of Udani remain on administrative leave pending the outcome of an internal affairs investigation.
An earlier call to 911 was from a man and woman who had seen the couple struggling in the car.
"A female in the car, and she was screaming and beeping her horn," the man said as the couple drove away from the center. "Someone tried to help. They ran to the car, and the next thing you know, the guy ran really fast away."
"We were so close to them, and I saw the gun, so I told my son, ‘Let’s go, let’s go!’ and the other guy was already running away," the woman told the operator. "We heard the gunshot very close."
During that call, the operator repeatedly asked the couple where the incident happened. She said officers were not able to find the car, which the two had described as a "white van." The operator asked the two if they would be willing to return to the center and help police. But they declined.
Honolulu marches to remember victim
Yesterday, Domingo was remembered in a march around Honolulu Hale to honor victims of domestic violence. The event originally was scheduled in memory of Michelle Ramos, who was stabbed to death Dec. 15 at a Kaua‘i restaurant where she worked.
Ramos, 26, was stabbed 17 times by her former boyfriend, Ryan Masumoto, who was the father of her 15-month-old daughter. The 32-year-old man later hanged himself.
About 20 men, women and children took part in yesterday’s silent march, organized by the Domestic Violence Clearinghouse & Legal Hotline. The agency holds a march after each murder resulting from domestic violence.
Joe Bloom of the Catholic Charities Family Services called for everyone to speak out against violence. "It makes me angry when I realize that these two beautiful little girls will never have a chance to know their parents," he said. "Why? Because somebody got angry, someone got upset and didn’t know how to deal with it in an appropriate way."
Advertiser staff writer Brandon Masuoka contributed to this report.
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