Suspect named in Roundtop violence
By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer
Honolulu police are searching for a 32-year-old man who they say was the driver of a stolen pickup truck that dragged an officer last week on Roundtop Drive.
Gordon Morse is wanted for attempted murder, kidnapping and auto theft in connection with the May 21 fracas. Morse also is wanted for escape after he failed to return to the Laumaka work furlough program April 30.
Gordon Morse
Morse has six felony convictions for burglary, robbery and auto theft and should be considered dangerous, said police homicide Lt. David Kamai.
Morse is suspected as being one of three men who were stopped on lower Roundtop Drive on Friday by officers who were staking out the area because of a rash of car break-ins. Two men followed police orders to get out of the pickup truck, but the third man, believed to be Morse, got into the driver's seat and drove off.
An officer grabbed the driver, and the truck dragged the officer about 15 feet. Another officer fired a shot at the fleeing truck but did not hit the driver, police said.
The 29-year-old officer suffered minor injuries. One of the men arrested has been released pending investigation while the other man was not arrested.
The Roundtop incident was the first in a series of chases, carjackings and auto thefts in the Makiki area on Friday. In one case, the driver of a pickup truck sideswiped a car before hitting one officer and running over the foot of another at Liholiho Street and Wilder Avenue.
John K. Gouveia, 42, has been charged in the case with assault on a police officer, robbery and reckless endangering. Police said on Friday that they also were looking for another man who was with Gouveia but fled.
Kamai said yesterday investigators have yet to determine if that man is Morse.
Morse has been involved in police chases in stolen vehicles before. In 1996, police said, he stole two cars and led officers on a high-speed chase from Waipahu to Kalihi.
Morse — also known as Scott Pakele, Kele and Kalani — is 5 feet 9, 180 pounds, with dark-brown hair and brown eyes. He also has many tattoos on his arms, chest, right leg and back.
Anyone with information on him should call 911 or CrimeStoppers at 955-8300 or *CRIME on a cellular phone.
Reach Curtis Lum at 525-8025 or culum@honoluluadvertiser.com.
