Police search for gunman in crash
By Brandon Masuoka
Advertiser Staff Writer
Police were still searching last night for a fugitive suspected of driving a stolen car and firing several shots into the air outside an Ala Moana nightclub and KHON-TV headquarters before crashing on Kapi'olani Boulevard and fleeing yesterday morning.
Police want Arthur Birano, 30, for questioning about the gunshots and fleeing the scene of the car crash near the intersection of Kapi'olani Boulevard and Pensacola Street.
Police said Birano should be considered armed and dangerous.
No one was hurt in the shootings, just before 4 a.m.
Birano is wanted on a parole retake warrant for failing to comply with terms and agreement of his release, police said. He has felony convictions for first-degree burglary and first-degree robbery, according to police.
They described him as Filipino, 5 feet 7 and 150 pounds, with tattoos on his upper right arm and chest.
Police said the gunman might still be armed with the handgun that he fired skyward in front of several witnesses, including a KHON producer who was outside the station's Pi'ikoi Street offices at the time.
"We just heard four shots," said another KHON producer, Robyn Nishi, who was working inside the station. "He wasn't targeting anything. He was just firing rounds into the air."
Police closed three streets for more than two hours to investigate at Venus Nite Club at 1349 Kapi'olani Blvd., KHON at 88 Pi'ikoi St., and the corner of Kapi'olani Boulevard and Pensacola Street.
Police say the gunman first drove a gray Toyota Corolla to the Venus Nite Club, yelled and fired one shot into the air before fleeing.
"We don't know why he was agitated," said Detective Dave Furtado. "He just started popping off rounds."
He then drove makai on Pi'ikoi, past KHON, and fired into the air from the car window.
He continued makai and turned right onto Ala Moana, eventually ending up on Kapi'olani, where he hit a light pole. Then he ran away.
Furtado said no gun has been found.
Police found spent rounds from a small-caliber handgun inside the car.
