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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, December 12, 2003

Suspect says he fired because officers didn't say they were police

By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer

Shane Mark testified yesterday that he fatally shot plainclothes officer Glen Gaspar, but said he did not know Gaspar and his partner were police officers and thought they were attacking him in retaliation for a shooting incident a month earlier.

Shane Mark holds up the weapon he used to shoot plainclothes officer Glen Gaspar. Mark, who admits firing, says he did not know Gaspar was a police officer.

Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser

Had he known they were officers, Mark told a Circuit Court jury yesterday, he wouldn't have put up a fight at the Kapolei Shopping Center March 4.

"I would have stopped and listened to every command they told me, because I would know that my daughter would be safe," he said.

Mark, 29, who is charged with first-degree murder, took the stand in his own defense and said he never intended to shoot the 40-year-old officer in the Baskin-Robbins store. Mark fired three shots at close range, killing Gaspar.

The prosecution contends the officers identified themselves and showed Mark their badges. Mark opened fire in an attempt to escape, they said.

But Mark says he feared for his life because he had shot and wounded one man and fired at another man during an argument in the parking lot of a Moanalua church Feb. 1. After that, he and his girlfriend, Leslie Martin, moved from place to place to avoid the two men, and Mark testified that he began to carry a loaded handgun for protection.

Mark has a criminal record that includes convictions for burglary and theft, and pleaded no contest to drug and firearm charges related to the Kapolei and Moanalua shootings. Circuit Judge Karen Ahn has ruled that his criminal history is not admissible in the trial.

Mark was expected to testify in his own defense, but the timing took many in the courtroom by surprise. Ahn had warned that he could be taking a risk, because the defense had not yet called all of its witnesses. Typically, defendants are the last to testify, Ahn told him, so they can hear all the evidence.

But Mark told Ahn, "I wish to testify at this point."

Mark maintained his composure under questioning by his attorney, Deputy Public Defender Debra Loy. He spoke softly but clearly, and his voice broke at times when he talked about his daughter.

But he became angry and combative during cross-examination by city Deputy Prosecutor Christopher Van Marter, arguing in several exchanges.

Mark portrayed himself as a ninth-grade dropout who spent most of his time in special-education classes because of a learning disability. He testified that he had been raised by his father, a series of his father's girlfriends and a stepmother, because his biological mother was "busy" raising three daughters in Nanakuli.

On the morning of the Gaspar shooting, Mark testified that his former girlfriend, Melissa Sennett, called him to arrange a meeting with their daughter, Shansy, before mother and child returned to their home in Kansas. They were to meet at the Baskin-Robbins store, where they had met once before.

By the time of the meeting, however, Sennett had notified police she would meet with Mark, who was wanted in connection with the Feb. 1 shooting. Six plainclothes officers, including Gaspar, developed a plan to capture Mark as he walked in the store.

"I felt really happy that I was going to see my daughter," Mark testified. "My plan was to give my daughter a gift and tell her how much I loved her."

In the back of his mind, however, he feared the men whom he said were after him. So when two men came out of nowhere and reached for his hands, Mark said he "froze up" and then "responded."

Mark testified that he never saw officers Gaspar and Calvin Sung, display their badges. Nor did he hear them identify themselves as police.

"I heard them say, 'Put your hands up! Put your hands up!" Mark testified. But those words didn't mean anything to him, he said, because robbers also command people to put their hands up.

A third officer grabbed Mark from behind, and as the four men began to struggle, Mark said his main objective was to move the scuffle away from his daughter, then 10. He also was trying to break free because "I didn't know who they were."

Mark testified that he managed to get his right hand free and reached for his gun in his waistband. Police and prosecutors contend that he kept the gun in his pants pocket.

"The first thing I did was I made sure it wasn't pointing towards my daughter," Mark testified. "Then I turned to the side and I shot him (Gaspar) one time."

He said he fired at Gaspar two more times before being subdued by the other officers. Mark said he never intended to kill anyone and never pointed the gun at anyone else, despite Sung's testimony that Mark pointed the gun at Sung's face twice during the struggle.

During cross-examination, Van Marter referred to a home video taken moments before Gaspar was shot. He said it showed that the officers did not surprise Mark, and that one of the officers was overheard identifying them as police. Van Marter said Mark's first reaction was to reach for his .22-caliber handgun.

"You knew you were going to be arrested," Van Marter said. "You didn't want to be arrested that day."

"No, not that day," Mark responded.

Van Marter asked Mark why he shot Gaspar in the chest twice and didn't aim for his leg or foot.

"You shot to kill, didn't you?" Van Marter asked.

"No. I shot to stop him," Mark responded.

He added that the leg or foot offered too small a target, and he continued to shoot because the men wouldn't get off him.

"I wanted to get him off right away, and if I shoot him in his leg, I probably would have missed," Mark said.

The trial resumes today.

Reach Curtis Lum at 525-8025 or culum@honoluluadvertiser.com.