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The killing was not captured on police body cameras but video from the hotel may have recorded the event.
Honolulu police officers shot and killed a man brandishing a 9mm ghost gun at the Ohia Waikiki Studio Suites shortly after midnight Friday, according to Honolulu Police Chief Joe Logan. Logan said Specialized Services Division officers shot the 48-year-old man twice and he was treated at the scene before being taken to a hospital where he died.
At a news conference Friday, Logan said the incident is the second shooting by police in 2022 and the first fatality. There were six officer-involved shootings in 2021 and four fatalities, he said.
“Any attempts that we made to make contact with the individual or to provoke a reaction, they all failed,” Logan said.
Logan said the man has a local address, but his identity will not be released until the medical examiner can notify his next of kin.
Logan said SSD officers do not wear body cameras so there is no footage by officers from the incident, but a brief redacted video of the fatal incident was released.
Logan said police responded to a 1:45 p.m. call Thursday from the hotel’s management to escort a hotel guest from a fifth-floor unit off the property located on Kuhio Avenue at Nohonani Street. After knocking at the unit and identifying themselves, officers heard a gunshot inside the unit, Logan said.
Officers then evacuated several rooms on that floor and rooms across the street from the building. Some area businesses were also closed.
During the ensuing eight-hour standoff, the man did not respond to communication attempts by crisis negotiators.
Logan said the man fired an estimated eight rounds from within the unit with one round hitting a police vehicle on the street below.
A non-lethal wooden projectile was fired into the unit with no response. Shortly after midnight a robot entered the unit with officers in the hallway. After repeated orders to exit the unit, the suspect walked into the hallway with his hands in the air and holding a handgun.
Officers ordered the man to stop and put the weapon down but he continued to advance and when he lowered the hand holding the gun, two officers fired at the man striking him twice, Logan said.
An autopsy will determine where the bullets entered the body and the cause of death.
A database of Hawaii police killings and deaths in custody can be searched via this link.
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