6 men in shooting had gambling ties
By Rod Ohira, Peter Boylan and Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writers
Six men involved in a shooting yesterday at the Pali Golf Course in which two of them were killed and a third critically wounded have ties to a Wai'anae-based gambling group and all had attended a funeral at nearby Hawaiian Memorial Park Mortuary about 15 minutes earlier, police said.
Three men were arrested yesterday on suspicion of shooting the men. All were booked on second-degree murder and attempted murder.
Gunfire erupted in the parking lot of the Pali golf course about 1:15 p.m. yesterday. When police arrived they found 40-year-old Romilius Corpuz and another man, 44, wounded in the clubhouse near the pro shop and Lepo Utu Taliese, 44, bleeding by the first tee box.
Corpuz was shot in the head and died at Castle Medical Center at 2:45 p.m. Taliese, who had multiple gunshot wounds in the chest to waist area, died at The Queen's Medical Center at 6:09 p.m.
The third man, who has not been identified, has a head wound and is at Queen's in critical condition. His injury does not appear to be life threatening, police said.
Nixon Melino Maumalanga, 30, of a Tantalus Drive address was stopped at 45-050 Kamehameha Highway and was arrested at 3:05 p.m. Police then arrested Ethan Motta, 34, of Todd Avenue in Hilo at Honolulu International Airport at 3:56 p.m. A third man, 35-year-old Rodney V. Joseph, of Manuku Street in Makaha voluntarily surrendered to police at 5:45 p.m.
It is still unknown how many shots were fired but HPD Assistant Chief Henry Lau confirmed today that two different types of bullets were used. No guns have been recovered, police said.
A person at the funeral who wished not to be identified for fear of retaliation said of the six men, "I call them the bad news bears." The person said there was no incident involving the six at the funeral.
Police said the men arrived in the golf course parking lot in two cars. The argument before the shooting started was brief.
The group is involved in card-playing gambling activities and is currently "fractured," police said.
According to the Hawai'i Criminal Justice Data Center, Joseph, 35, has 13 previous convictions, 10 for felony terroristic threatening. Maumalonga, 30, has two previous convictions, both minor traffic violations. Motta, 34, has one past conviction for reckless driving.
The two dead men, Taliese and Corpuz, had 21 convictions between them. Taliese, who had 12 convictions, was sentenced to life in prison without parole for murder in 1980, but had his sentence commuted by former Gov. John Waihee in 1994.
Corpuz, who had nine convictions, committed a variety of crimes throughout his life. His convictions included two for robbery and two more for car theft.
At the time of the shooting, the popular course was crowded with golfers taking advantage of the clear weather.
No bystanders were shot.
One employee in the course restaurant said she heard shots from the upper-level parking area and saw people running to the lower parking level. Then she heard at least four more shots.
William Tateishi was about to tee off at the ninth hole when he heard three gunshots.
"We see this big guy who was dressed in black come walking out, sort of stumbling a little bit along the fairway area," Tateishi said. "He walked out about 200 yards and then he stopped. He pulled out a cell phone and was talking on his cell phone, and then he threw his cell phone away. He then sat down, and then he collapses."
Tateishi said golfers "cautiously kept playing around the incident." But he said a police helicopter appeared overhead within minutes and motioned for everyone on the course to return to the clubhouse.
Two teams from the police Specialized Services Division scoured the grounds for suspects.
Reach Rod Ohira at 535-8181 or rohira@honoluluadvertiser.com. Staff writers Derrick DePledge and Eloise Aguiar, and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
