Posted on: Sunday, October 6, 2002

Police: Officers not aware of child in shootout truck

By Scott Ishikawa
Advertiser Staff Writer

A bullet fired by a gunman shattered the passenger window of a police vehicle along Kahekili Street yesterday. The police officer suffered cuts from glass. Honolulu Police Dept.

Police yesterday said they were not aware a 22-month-old boy was in a pickup truck during a deadly gun battle between the driver and officers in Kane'ohe on Friday.

Police said they fired about 130 rounds at the GMC pickup after Arnold Willets fired a shotgun at officers three times. Willets, who had eight felony convictions and was sought for a parole violation, was killed.

It was during the gun battle in front of Kane'ohe District Park that passenger Christopher Endenfield, 22, dropped his toddler son onto the lawn next to the truck, which was wedged on a concrete wall.

Endenfield, who suffered three gunshot wounds, was listed in guarded condition at The Queen's Medical Center after the shooting. His son Kyle was in good condition, with a bruise to his head.

Investigators said they believe Endenfield and his son were victims in the incident, which they have classified as a kidnapping.

Police Deputy Chief Glen Kajiyama said yesterday that if police had known about the child, officers would not have returned fire but treated the matter as a possible hostage situation.

"While our plainclothes officers who initially spotted the parked truck saw a child in the vehicle, the uniformed officers being shot at, and who returned fire, were unaware of that," Kajiyama said. "This whole thing transpired in minutes."

It was only after Endenfield dropped the child from the truck, evidently to get him out of the line of fire, that uniformed officers realized a child had been inside.

Terry Gouveia, Endenfield's mother, said yesterday that she hadn't been allowed to visit her son yet.

"All I want right now is to see him and talk to him," said Gouveia, who visited her grandson at the hospital Friday night.

"He's scared, but fine. He was crying and asking for his daddy," she said.

"Kyle means the world to Chris, I mean he loves his son," Gouveia said. "He was probably shielding him."

Gouveia said her family doesn't know Willets. "We've never seen him before," she said.

Kajiyama said preliminary reports showed the department's use of deadly force was justified.

"This is a tragedy all-around," Kajiyama said. "However, we are extremely grateful that none of our officers sustained life-threatening injuries and that the 2-year-old toddler was not injured."

Police yesterday gave the following account of what happened:

• 12:10 p.m. Friday: HPD's crime-reduction unit officers at Laenani Neighborhood Park in Kahalu'u notice a GMC pickup truck enter the park, leave, then return, Kajiyama said.

Plainclothes officers find a discrepancy with the vehicle's license plate number and approach to question the driver, believed to be Willets. The driver reverses the truck and hits an unmarked police car before driving off. Plainclothes officers spot the same vehicle at 12:43 p.m. on Iuiu Street in Kahalu'u, with a man and child inside, before it drives off.

• 1:11 p.m.: A uniformed police sergeant in an SUV catches up with the truck on Kahekili Highway. At one point, Willets slows down until he is parallel with the officer's vehicle and fires a shotgun, shattering the passenger window. He later fires another shot at the front windshield. The officer is cut on the head by shattering glass.

With police following, the truck turns from Kahekili onto Kea'ahala Street and is blocked by officers coming from the opposite direction. Willets makes a U-turn and fires at police again. Four officers return fire with about 30 rounds.

• 1:15 p.m.: The truck heads back up the intersection, running a red light and striking another vehicle before running up a grass embankment in front of Kane'ohe District Park. The truck spins backward and lodges on a 5-foot-high concrete wall topped by a chain-link fence. Willets attempts to accelerate, but the vehicle is stuck.

Willets begins firing at oncoming police, and nine officers fire more than 100 rounds at the vehicle. As the truck catches fire, Endenfield drops the boy outside the truck. All three occupants are taken to Queen's, where Willets is pronounced dead.

A Mossberg 12-gauge shotgun was found inside the truck, police said. They are trying to determine how many shots Willets fired at police while driving. The ownership of the truck and shotgun are still being verified.

Police did not know that Willets was wanted by authorities until after the shooting.

This report contains information from the Associated Press.

Reach Scott Ishikawa at sishikawa@honoluluadvertiser.com or at 535-8110.