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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Thursday, May 24, 2007

Teen may have misled police about shooting

By Peter Boylan and Lynda Arakawa
Advertiser Staff Writers

Koamalu Edayan-Lindo

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A 16-year-old boy could face an accusation of filing a false police report for a Monday incident in which another teen was accidentally shot in the parking lot of 'Aiea Public Library, police said yesterday.

Two teens told police that the gunshot that struck 'Aiea High School sophomore Koamalu Edayan-Lindo came from a drive-by shooting. The next day, detectives determined the gun went off accidentally as the boys were playing with it.

"Cases like this where they create a false panic are frustrating for us," said police Capt. Frank Fujii, a department spokesman. "It's very frustrating for us to expend a huge amount of man hours, time and energy. If you file a false police report, we will investigate it and work with the prosecutors to charge it."

The case is the third high-profile CrimeStoppers alert in the past two months that police say turned out to be a hoax, and the second to result in police pursuing a misdemeanor charge of filing a false police report.

In the other cases, a woman is believed to have fabricated a story about a man raping her in Kalihi, and police say a pregnant woman falsely reported she was kidnapped and beaten by her boyfriend's ex-girlfriend.

Police are reviewing how cases communicated to the public through CrimeStoppers are reviewed, and working to ensure that false reports are corrected quickly.

"CrimeStoppers is a great program, and my concern is that if this continues it will discredit a very good law enforcement tool," Fujii said. "If CrimeStoppers is discredited, who loses? We lose a very valuable tool and the community loses a great crime-fighting resource."

The 16-year-old in the 'Aiea shooting also was arrested on suspicion of illegal storage of a firearm, a felony. Filing a false police report is a misdemeanor. He was being held at the juvenile detention facility on Alder Street.

Edayan-Lindo remained at The Queen's Medical Center in critical but stable condition after being shot once in the chest.

Edayan-Lindo's parents and other family members, including his grandfather from the Big Island, were at the hospital yesterday and were still "in shock by what happened," said Maizelette Edayan, who said she is Edayan-Lindo's grand-aunt.

"He's been a good boy," Maizelette Edayan said. "He also loves his sports. He's a very well-mannered child. That's why this is just a shock to everybody.

"We're just all praying that he will get better."

GUN STILL MISSING

Edayan-Lindo, 16, has been on the school's junior varsity football and paddling teams, according to the 2007 yearbook.

Police said the gun has not been recovered, and that they believe it is a .38-caliber revolver that was reported stolen. The boys allegedly hid the gun, and police asked that it be turned in if someone has it.

"If we believe you are in possession of a gun, we're going to come to pick you up and treat you as someone who is armed and dangerous," Fujii said.

Because the case involves a juvenile, Fujii and officials with the prosecutor's office said they were legally prohibited from publicly discussing whether a petition � the juvenile justice equivalent of a criminal charge � has been filed.

Reach Peter Boylan at pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com and Lynda Arakawa at larakawa@honoluluadvertiser.com.