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The Honolulu Advertiser
Updated at 8:24 p.m., Thursday, April 16, 2009

Suspect in Punchbowl shooting indicted

Advertiser Staff

An O'ahu grand jury today indicted a 70-year-old man in connection with the Easter Sunday shooting death of Clare Silva in her Punchbowl apartment.

Melvin Yoshida was charged with one count of second-degree murder and using a firearm in the commission of a separate felony. Circuit Judge Derrick Chan granted a prosecution request to increase Yoshida's bail from $100,000 to $500,000, saying Yoshida was a potential risk to other residents in Silva's apartment complex.

Yoshida has been in custody since his arrest Sunday afternoon. No date has been set for his arraignment.

Yoshida is accused of shooting Silva as she answered the door to her Punchbowl Homes apartment on Captain Cook Avenue Sunday morning. Police said Silva was on the phone with her sister-in-law on the Mainland when there was a "banging" on her door.

The sister-in-law told police that Silva put the phone down and then she heard gun shots and Silva screaming for help. A police officer who was sent to investigate the incident said he was confronted by Yoshida, who admitted shooting Silva.

Neighbors said that Yoshida has been pressuring Silva to be his girlfriend since his wife died in February 2008.