Hawai'i man shot to death in L.A.
By Peter Boylan and Rod Ohira
Advertiser Staff Writers
Maxwell Hazlett, a 21-year-old college student from Honolulu, was shot to death as he walked home Saturday morning in Los Angeles.
Hazlett's body was discovered early Saturday morning on Second Avenue, about one-fifth of a mile from the apartment he lived in, according to his father, Honolulu attorney Mark Hazlett.
Maxwell Hazlett, 21, could speak German and Spanish and was studying Mandarin.
Max Hazlett, a 2001 Punahou School graduate, was a junior at the University of Southern California majoring in language.
Los Angeles police said officers responding to a call at about 5:35 a.m. Saturday found a man with multiple gunshot wounds to his upper body.
Los Angeles city paramedics pronounced the man dead.
Los Angeles police Detective Mario Mota said police have put together a rough sequence of events leading to the man's death but declined to release specifics.
Mota said police are questioning friends, witnesses and co-workers. He said there are no suspects and police have no motive for the killing.
The Los Angeles County coroner's office would not release the cause of death pending notification of family.
Mark Hazlett and his wife, Dorothy, and Max's mother, Louise Woodcock Hazlett of New Zealand, did not learn of their son's death until Monday because no identification was found on the body.
"He was very positive, gregarious and outgoing," Mark Hazlett said of his son. "He loved language and politics and was looking at combining the two into a possible career."
Max Hazlett could speak German and Spanish and was studying Mandarin. He spent last summer in Taiwan and was planning on returning this summer, his father said.
"It's just devastating," Dorothy Hazlett said. "He was an outstanding student."
The Hazletts are going to Los Angeles, where they will meet with police and hold a memorial service Saturday at USC for their son. There will be a another memorial service next month in Honolulu, said Mark Hazlett.
News of Hazlett's death shocked faculty at Punahou who remembered him as an "engaging and diligent student who was a good friend and classmate," said Laurel Bowers Husain, the school's director of development and communications.
"Punahou is deeply saddened to learn of the death of Max Hazlett," Husain said. "Our aloha goes out to his family as they cope with his sudden loss."
Lynn Tsuda, Hazlett's dean at Punahou, said he was articulate, worldly and witty.
"History classes were Max's special love in high school," Tsuda said. "According to one social-studies teacher, Max would arrive in homeroom with a history trivia question for his teacher and she usually had one ready for him as well.
"The playful interaction was at the foundation of Max's relationship with this teacher," Tsuda said.
"He loved to discuss patterns of human experience, loved to ask questions, and was electrified when engaged in historical conversation. ... Friends will remember him as an affable fellow who listened with a caring ear, who shared his sense of humor with them, and who cared deeply about his friends."
Reach Peter Boylan at pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-8110 and Rod Ohira at rohira@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-8181.
