Posted on: Wednesday, August 11, 2004
Pearl City fatal fight linked to racial slur
By Peter Boylan and David Waite
Advertiser Staff Writers
A racial slur sent a Pearl Harbor sailor into a rage early Monday morning, prompting a fistfight that left a neighbor dead, court records show.
Kendall Edmonds, 22, was charged yesterday with second-degree murder in the death of Michael Gillum, 46. He remains jailed in lieu of $100,000 bond.
Edmonds, from Bessamer, Ala., was arrested Monday after he told police that he got into a fight with Gillum in the fifth-floor hallway of their Pearl City apartment complex over a noise complaint. Edmonds is expected to be arraigned this morning.
In the mid-1990s, Gillum was sentenced to an anger-management course and probation in the aftermath of a domestic violence incident, court records also show.
In January 1995, Gillum's then-live-in girlfriend, Crystal Makaena, got a restraining order against Gillum to keep him from coming near her or her three children, the youngest of whom was a nearly 4-year-old girl fathered by Gillum.
Makaena said in court papers that Gillum "pointed a handgun between my eyes and a rifle at my chest" during an incident on Dec. 20, 1994.
A Family Court judge granted the restraining order to Makaena on Jan. 9, 1995. Police had charged Gillum on Dec. 22, 1994, with two counts of first-degree terroristic threatening and a weapons violation stemming from the incident with Makaena.
Gillum pleaded guilty to the charges in April 1995 and was placed on supervised release. Prior to being released, Gillum completed an anger management course at O'ahu Community Correctional Center, records show.
He was sentenced to five years probation in August 1995 on the terroristic threatening charges and in 1998 was awarded custody of the daughter he and Makaena had together, after Makaena told Family Court she could no longer care for the girl.
In August 2000, Gillum received a certificate of discharge, indicating that he had completed his five years of probation, court records show.
According to documents filed in District Court yesterday, Gillum approached Edmonds about the noise coming from his apartment at 2:30 a.m. Monday.
During the confrontation, Gillum cursed and uttered a racial slur against Edmonds, who is black, court documents state. Edmonds told police that he became upset and attacked Gillum.
Gillum was found by police lying in a hallway on the fifth floor of the Century Park Plaza at about 2:30 a.m. Monday.
Police believe that Gillum first banged on his bedroom wall in an attempt to get Edmonds to quiet down and then went to Edmonds' front door to confront him about the noise.
Edmonds has no criminal record in the state, according to the Hawai'i Criminal Justice Data Center.
The Navy has said Honolulu police will retain jurisdiction in the prosecution.
Reach Peter Boylan at 535-8110 or pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com. Reach David Waite at 525-7412 or dwaite@honoluluadvertiser.com.
