Shooting suspects were in gang, police say

By Peter Boylan
Advertiser Staff Writer

Police say they believe the recent fatal shootings in Pearl City and 'Aiea are the result of former gang members robbing drug dealers.

Micah Kanahele, 22, is charged with two murders. Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser

Another man charged with Kanahele in those cases also is a former member of the same gang, Kato said.

"These guys were known when they were younger to run with (the gang) and a lot of them still hang out together," Kato said. "Because these guys still hang out together, it could be gang-related, but I think it was just guys ripping off druggies."

Kato said he did not know if the two men remained active members of the gang. He said police are continuing their investigation into the two murders.

Kanahele, a Waipahu resident, is scheduled to return to Honolulu District Court today for the resumption of the preliminary hearing to determine whether he should stand trial on charges of murder, attempted murder and armed robbery in connection with the shooting of Nuuhiwa and wounding of Nuuhiwa's friend Winston Domingo.

Rosalino Ramos, 22, and Kevin Harris, 26, are also scheduled to appear in court in the case. The two are charged with first-degree robbery.

According to court testimony Monday, Kanahele shot Nuuhiwa and Domingo at the Pearl City Shopping Center after Nuuhiwa refused to lower the price of a quarter pound of marijuana from $1,600 to $1,480.

Morishima, 49, was gunned down by three masked men in the garage of a friend's Pamoho Place home in 'Aiea where neighbors say he was dropping off a bag of mangoes. Police had conducted several narcotic raids at the home in the past.

Ramos, whom Kato described as a former gang member, also is charged with murdering Morishima.

Alvin Nishimura, Kanahele's lawyer, declined to comment about his client yesterday. Ramos' lawyer could not be reached for comment.

In 2000, Kanahele was convicted on firearm charges in connection with a shooting. In that court case, prosecutors described Kanahele as a member of a gang.

Court documents filed by prosecutors said police searching a car that Kanahele was riding in found a sawed-off shotgun, an automatic firearm that was also sawed off, and an inoperable revolver in a blue nylon bag belonging to Kanahele.

Prosecutors said "friends report that he is known for carrying firearms and has a reputation in the gang as being a 'shooter.' "

At the time, Kanahele was 18; it was his first adult arrest.

Kanahele was sentenced to 100 hours of community service, one year in jail and five years' probation, according to Hawai'i Criminal Justice Data Center records.

Sid Rosen, director of Adult Friends for Youth, an organization that worked heavily with youth gangs when they were clashing regularly in Kalihi during the late '80s to mid-'90s said he remembers working with Kanahele.

He said Kanahele was a fringe member of the gang and described him as a follower.

"He was kind of a mild-mannered kid; he wasn't one of the tough kids. He was probably one of the last ones I would have expected at that time to get into serious trouble," Rosen said. "When he was arrested and imprisoned back then it was like, 'Why him?' "

Rosen said his group worked with the gang's 20-member Kalihi branch during the late '80s until 1996.

He said gang activity had mostly ended by then, the result of several negotiated truces between the major ethnic gangs that Rosen's group helped facilitate.

He said the gang also was active in Waipahu, Pearl City and 'Aiea.

From 1996 to 2002, Rosen said, gang activity was relatively low but it began to pick up toward the end of 2002, particularly in the Waipahu and Kalihi area.

"We are seeing more youth gang activity and some of the groups .... have evolved from youth gangs into more drug-related gang activities," Rosen said.

Reach Peter Boylan at 535-8110 or pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com.

Correction: Greg Morishima's name was incorrect in a previous version of this story yesterday.