Kapahulu gunfight leaves two wounded
By Will Hoover
Advertiser Staff Writer
Police ran down a suspected gunman yesterday afternoon after a Kapahulu gunfight left two men wounded.
Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser
One shaken motorist had her car hit by a stray bullet.
A police investigator examines a bullet hole in the back window of a car after a gunfight at a pawnshop on Kapahulu Avenue sent two men to the hospital yesterday.
Witnesses said the gunfight occurred in a parking area behind the GH Pawn and Gold Exchange at 936 Kapahulu Ave.
Police Lt. Alan Anami, at the scene, said the shooting occurred shortly after 4 p.m. when the 52-year-old proprietor of the pawnshop and a 33-year-old man apparently exchanged gunshots.
"Witness in the area said that the suspect fled 'ewa-bound on Kaimuki Avenue," Anami said. "So the officers gave pursuit. Other witnesses in the area began pointing out the path of flight. The male we believe is the suspect was located in the Market City Mall area."
Anami said a third man may have been involved, but other officers were not able to confirm that.
Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser
Police Sgt. Patrice Gionson said that both men were taken to The Queen's Medical Center and that the pawn shop operator was seriously injured.
Investigators meet in front of the GH Pawn shop, which is across the street from the scene of a shooting. The owner of the shop and another man were taken to The Queen's Medical Center.
One witness who didn't want to identify herself — but who said she was "pretty shook up" — said the gunfight broke out as she was walking her dog near Hula Haven, which is beside the pawnshop. She said a man at the hula store, who apparently knew there could be trouble brewing, told her to get away.
"I looked in the parking lot and saw this local man talking with this, I think, he was a haole guy, with a yellow T-shirt on," she said. "And the next thing I know, I hear shots and the haole guy goes down and I see blood coming out of his shoulder, and the other guy ran."
The witness said one bullet from the exchange went through the rear window of a passing Honda four-door sedan with a couple inside. Police said that although no one in the vehicle was hurt, the woman driver was extremely distressed.
Police blocked off Kapahulu Avenue between Kaimuki Avenue and 'Olu Street and rerouted motorists and pedestrians around the crime scene. The road was reopened shortly before 7 p.m.
Reach Will Hoover at 525-8038 or at whoover@honoluluadvertiser.com.
