911 tapes recount Wahiawa neighbors' alarm

By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer

Police yesterday released tapes taken on the 911 emergency line as Wahiawa Heights residents reported a brawl and gunfire in their neighborhood, the prelude to a police shooting more than two hours later that left a 20-year-old man dead in his back yard.

Police received six calls, the first recorded at 2:10 a.m. Sunday.

One woman told police that she had just arrived at her Karsten Drive home when she saw a young man fire a gun at a white car. Two passengers in the car, she said, were her nephews.

"I'm kind of shaken up because, you know, I was standing near the car when they were backing up and then the kid shot the gun," the woman told the 911 operator. "I don't know what kind of gun. I could have gotten shot."

Dustan Long, a resident of the home at 290 Karsten Drive, had invited some people to his home, but an argument with his girlfriend escalated into a brawl, police said.

Police said Long fired several shots at a white Volkswagen Golf. When officers arrived, police said, Long fired a shot at them before fleeing into his home and holding police at bay.

Police said Long then fired a shot at two officers from his back yard. A third officer returned fire, striking Long in the chest and killing him.

Long had been scheduled to be sentenced Monday for auto theft. He had prior convictions for harassment and fourth-degree theft, according to the Hawai'i Criminal Justice Data Center.