Man fatally shot near Waipahu High
By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer
A man died yesterday after being shot several times at close range on a busy street just outside Waipahu High School.
Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser
Police would not release the victim's identity last night. He was described as in his 30s.
Police officers investigate the scene of yesterday's fatal shooting near Waipahu High School.
Police last night were searching for the shooter and a woman who drove the getaway car. Witnesses gave conflicting information as to whether the person who fired the gun was a man or woman, said police homicide Lt. Bill Kato.
Witness Gary Smith said he was heading to the school with his two children and a friend when they saw a man standing outside a four-door white sedan parked near the entrance to Waipahu High School on Waipi'o Point Access Road. Smith said he could see the person waving a gun at a man in the driver's seat of the white car and making threats.
Smith said he thought he was witnessing a robbery and his friend pulled over and he called 911.
"As I was talking to (the operator) I said, 'I got a feeling there may be a shooting,' " he said. "I was describing what the man looked like who was waving the gun and after about five minutes I saw him shoot between four and six shots."
Smith said he was still on the phone with the 911 operator when the shots were fired just before 3:30 p.m. He said the shooter appeared calm and he could not hear what was being said in the car.
After the shots were fired, the shooter, whom Smith described as "multi-cultural" and in his 30s, ran to a gray sedan parked behind the victim's car and fled toward Pearl City on Farrington Highway.
Smith said he went to the man's aid and realized he had been seriously wounded. The victim's eyes were open, but he did not acknowledge Smith's questions.
"I noticed there was blood on his chin and blood on his chest. I stood there and talked to him and tried to encourage him. He was just moaning," Smith said.
Smith is a teacher at the Department of Education's Leeward Enhancement Program in Wai'anae and was going to Waipahu High to do some paperwork.
Kato said the victim had at least three gunshot wounds to his upper body. He said gun casings recovered at the scene were from a .22-caliber pistol.
Kato said the shooting was the result of an argument that may have begun in a nearby neighborhood. He said the shooter was standing on the shoulder of the road and pointing the gun through an open passenger door.
"No one could actually hear what they were saying, but witnesses did say it appeared to be a heated argument," Kato said. He said the victim was in a rented car, but he appeared to be a local resident.
Kato would not comment on a possible motive, but he did say it had nothing to do with the high school.
The man was taken to St. Francis-West Hospital and transferred by Army medevac helicopter to The Queen's Medical Center. He died in the hospital's operating room.
A school vice principal said she was relieved that classes did not begin until today, or they would have been dozens of students in the vicinity of the shooting.
