Elite unit joins manhunt
By Peter Boylan
Advertiser Staff Writer
Officers from the Honolulu Police Department's Criminal Intelligence Unit aided homicide detectives yesterday as police expanded their manhunt for 33-year-old Kevin "Pancho" Gonsalves, wanted in connection with Wednesday's fatal shootings at the Pali Municipal Golf Course.
CIU is an an elite group of officers that investigates high-profile cases such as organized crime and terrorism.
Kevin "Pancho" Gonsalves is wanted in connection with Wednesday's fatal shootings at the Pali Municipal Golf Course.
Yesterday's search for Gonsalves stretched from Wai'anae into Honolulu. On Friday officers searched in Ma'ili. Police said Gonsalves should be considered armed and dangerous.
"We want to get them (suspects) all in and talk to them," said Homicide Lt. Bill Kato.
Wednesday's shooting was the result of a turf war between groups that provide protection for illegal gambling houses, police say.
The shooting erupted after an argument over money. Also contributing to the violence was an argument over the logistics of providing security for the gambling houses, said a police source who declined to be named because the investigation is ongoing.
Two men were killed in the melee, 44-year-old Lepo Utu Taliese was shot several times in the chest and belly and died at The Queen's Medical Center. Romilius Corpuz, 40, was shot in the head and pronounced dead at Castle Medical Center.
A third man, Tinoimalu Sao, 42, was shot in the head and remained in critical condition yesterday at Queen's.
Police said yesterday that Gonsalves may have been one of the gunmen. Police have not said how many shooters were involved in Wednesday's killings, but they did recover shell casings from two handguns, a .22 caliber and a .38 caliber.
On Friday, Rodney Joseph, 35, and Ethan Motta, 34, each were charged with murder. Bail for each man was set at $1 million. Before they died, the victims told police that Joseph and Motta shot them, according to a police affidavit.
Nixon Maumalanga, 30, arrested Wednesday at the golf course, was not charged in connection with the shootings and was released pending investigation.
Police said yesterday they think Maumalanga drove the victims to the meeting in the upper parking lot of the golf course and that he was seen by witnesses running away from the scene.
Police said the shooting had connections to a July 30 brawl at a gambling house on Young Street between two groups that provide security for illegal game rooms. Sao, who was beaten in the fight, testified in court that he sometimes worked as a security guard at illegal gambling houses.
The men involved in Wednesday's shootings had come from the funeral of the father of a man stabbed in the Young Street brawl.
Reach Peter Boylan at 535-8110 or pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com.
