Three suspects arrested in fatal beating

By Brandon Masuoka
Advertiser Staff Writer

Police have arrested two 19-year-old Mililani men and an 18-year-old Wahiawa man in connection with the fatal beating of an Army reservist in February.

Mark Mehr, 43, died Feb. 21, 10 days after he was beaten and left on a sidewalk outside a California Avenue apartment building.

A fourth man, 36, was arrested on suspicion of taking Mehr's truck. He has no local address.

Police said Mehr was beaten after he and another man got into an argument.

Lt. Bill Kato, a homicide investigator with the Police Department, said of the initial confrontation: "It was either a 'stink eye' or a comment made between the two of them. That sparked an argument."

Then, Kato said, "The other guys came out of the crowd and started beating him. The original guy backed off when the other guys came in."

The three suspected assailants and the man who argued with Mehr may have known each other, Kato said.

The arrests were made Monday night after police gathered statements from witnesses.

"It took us a while to track everyone down," Kato said.

Kato said Mehr had been drinking at a bar before the beating, but he was not considered drunk.

It was not clear whether the suspected assailants had been drinking.

Police arrested the three men at Melemanu Neighborhood Park in Waipi'o, on suspicion of second-degree attempted murder.

The 36-year-old suspect in the auto theft was arrested in Wahiawa town.

Mehr had four children, ages 23, 19, 15 and 13. He was a construction worker and a command sergeant major in the Army Reserve.