Police Internal Affairs Lt. Greg Poole said the man, identified by police and several witnesses as 19-year-old Robert Sua, is in guarded but stable condition at Queen's Hospital after being shot in the forearm, hip and below the waist at about 9:30 p.m.

He has not been charged.

Police recovered a 10-inch butcher knife and smaller paring knife at the scene.

Sua allegedly held knives in both hands as he moved toward one of the officers, ignoring three warnings to drop the knives, Poole said.

The officer fired four shots at the suspect from 7 to 10 feet away, Poole said.

Patrol officers were sent to the low-rise housing area along Pupupuhi and Pupumomi streets at about 7 p.m. in a response to a complaint that a man with a knife was threatening neighbors.

Police were unable to locate a suspect, however.

Police later responded to two other complaints in the same area. The third complaint received at 9:26 p.m.

"Robert was running up and down (Pupupuhi) street, yelling at the cops, 'Shoot me already,' but they was telling him, 'Hey, we just like talk to you,'" said a witness, who requested anonymity.

"He was running on top of the roofs of some cars."

Sua ran to Pupupuhi Street and Farrington Highway, where he allegedly forced a man out of a parked car.

According to witnesses, Sua was holding the man by his shirt collar as they walked along Farrington Highway until confronted by police, Detective Nick Cambra said.

"At that point the (possible kidnap) victim ran away," Cambra said.

A woman who witnessed the shooting from her second-floor apartment first saw Sua standing with the man on the sidewalk below her unit.

"Robert was talking with his mom who just got out of the hospital before he ran into the middle of the street," said the woman, who asked not to be identified.

"He seemed to be maneuvering around and I heard them say, 'Put the knife down.'

"Robert was walking toward one of them when he got shot," she added. "They had him surrounded so why did they have to shoot him?"

Sua was convicted two years ago of first-degree assault and escape stemming from a July 1993 incident on Pupukahi Street.

After being arrested for stabbing two men and assaulting a third, he escaped from a patrol car with the help of friends. He was recaptured nearby.

Sua was then 16 years old but Family Court waived its jurisdiction so he could be tried as an adult.

He was sentenced to 10 years for assault and five years for escape.