Man to stand trial
over gunplay at
baby luau

The suspect, 18, is accused of
attempted murder for firing at
a policeman who gave chase

By Lori Tighe
Star-Bulletin

Jason Rumbawa pulled out a semiautomatic gun, yelled, "What's up? You want a piece of this?" and threatened to shoot party-goers at a baby luau, according to witnesses.

"My heart dropped," the birthday girl's father, Jason Santiago, testified at a preliminary hearing yesterday. "I thought I was going to die, and I was scared for the people. There were a lot of kids there."

District Judge Colette Garibaldi ruled there was probable cause to send the case of Rumbawa, 18, to Circuit Court for trial. The Aiea man is charged with first-degree attempted murder of a police officer, five counts of terroristic threatening and firearm offenses.

The judge also sent for trial the case of Michael Maristella, 19, of Aiea, who is charged with hindering prosecution and firearm offenses.

She set their arraignment for 8:30 a.m. Sept. 3 at Circuit Court. Both are being held at Oahu Community Correctional Center, with Rumbawa's bail set at $345,000 and Maristella's bail at $70,000.

Police said Rumbawa - a former gang member of Bad Boys of Ilocano - Maristella and another friend crashed the birthday/baptismal party Saturday night at the Mililani Recreation Center 3. They went with another group of friends who drove in a second car.

One of Rumbawa's friends entered the party with a girlfriend who had "brought trouble to my house before," Santiago said.

A group of men asked the couple to leave and tried escorting the friend, not charged by police, out of the party, Santiago said.

Party-goer Randall Belmonte said the friend began yelling "and making a commotion" about being escorted away. The friend lunged at another escort, Jose Delizo, who shoved him back, and they fell outside the recreation center, Belmonte said.

From the ground, the friend told Rumbawa, waiting outside, to pull out his gun, witnesses said. Rumbawa allegedly pulled out a 9mm semiautomatic gun and pointed it at the crowd.

"I grabbed my son and told everybody to get back," Delizo said. "I felt scared. I turned and ran."

Special-duty police officer Darren Kitagawa, who was in uniform, heard the screams and ran to the scene.

The officer said he shouted, "Stop, police, drop the gun!" But Kitagawa testified the teens fled the recreation center in a dark car. He chased the car on foot to get the license plate number, even running through bushes to cut them off.

The officer said a passenger from the back seat, identified as Rumbawa, pointed the gun out of the window and fired four to five times at Kitagawa, who was running about 15 feet away.

"I dropped back," the officer said. "I returned fire and then asked for assistance on the radio."

A detective said Maristella told police he dropped off Rumbawa.

Police arrested a third suspect, who told detectives they could find the gun at Rumbawa's house in Aiea. Police went to the address and spoke with Rumbawa's older brother, Stanley, who then went to a back room and returned with the 9mm gun.

Police said the gun was stolen during a July 21 burglary.