Gunman’s family
says system failed
and overreacted
Wayman Kaua apparently felt
By Lori Tighe
persecuted for small-time crimes
and had considered suicide
Star-BulletinThe family of a woman held hostage in last week's Pearl City standoff said the the gunman has been a "victim of the system" since he stole two cases of beer at age 19.
"If you knew him, he was Mr. Aloha," said Charlotte Sapla, 22-year-old sister of Shellnell Kaua, 27.
Attempted first-degree murder charges are pending against Wayman Kaua for allegedly firing shots at three Pearl City District Crime Reduction Unit police officers.
After determining Kaua was inside the home at 1938 Waimano Home Road, the officers were preparing to arrest him when shots were fired at them, triggering a 22-hour standoff.
Shellnell Kaua's neck was grazed by a bullet that her husband, Wayman Kaua, fired in reflex after a sharpshooter shot him on Friday, she said.
Wayman Kaua, "just frustrated with life and the law," held her and another woman hostage in the incident. He released the other woman, who rented a room in the house, at 7:30 a.m. Friday, unharmed.
Hundreds of people couldn't go home Thursday night because police blockaded Pacific Palisades. The only road entering Pacific Palisades runs in back of the house where Kaua held his hostages.
"We're sorry to the families who couldn't get in their homes," said Shellnell Kaua. "We felt bad for that. He didn't want to hurt anybody. He just wanted to scare them (police) off."
She held a press conference yesterday at her apartment at 1184 Waimano Home Road, to tell everyone "my husband wasn't the bad guy."
Wayman Kaua, 30, remains on a respirator.
Initial police reports said Kaua had been shot in the upper chest. But police Capt. Doug Miller today confirmed Kaua was shot in the face, and said the suspect remains in guarded condition at Queen's Hospital.
Internal Affairs Lt. Greg Poole today said Kaua was shot by a police sniper from about 75-90 feet away.Detective Anderson Hee said the shot hit Kaua above the jaw.
Shellnell Kaua, with her neck bandaged and her two children, aged 8 and 9, seated next to her on the couch, said her husband got tired of running.
"He had no job. He can't pay bills. He was asking for help. They shut him off. He wanted to end his life. They wanted to lock him up first and then take him in for treatment," she said. "I was just scared for him being killed."
Her husband heard police were looking for him after he tested positive for "ice", or crystal methamphetamine, in his system, she said.
He went to the house at 1938 Waimano Home Road to hide from police, she said.
When her husband refused to leave the house, a man there called CrimeStoppers and reported him. Two people escaped from the house, but Wayman Kaua ordered one tenant, a 33-year-old woman, to stay.
Shellnell Kaua went to the house because she feared for her husband's life.
"I was there to protect him and watch over him. If I didn't, he wouldn't be here; he would be gone," she said.
She said he was a kind and generous man who would give his last $10 to anyone who needed it. He never abused her, she said. But when asked about his prior convictions for spouse abuse, she answered, "That was nothing."
Life spiraled downward in June when Wayman Kaua lost his job as a handyman at Sunpoint Maintenance, she said. He went back to using "ice" and knew he needed help but couldn't get it, she said.
Shellnell Kaua said she never thought her husband would kill her even as the tip of his gun pointed into her neck.
She tried to talk her husband into ending the standoff. She said he wanted to kill himself, but was too scared. "He wanted them to do him in," she said.
The woman held hostage "was freaking out," Shellnell Kaua said smiling. "We assured her nothing would happen to her. We told her our situation."
"I talked to him for a half-hour on the phone," said George Sapla, Shellnell Kaua's brother.
"He wouldn't shoot at kids or my sister. I feel no hatred toward him. He told us the situation. Two weeks ago he tested positive for drugs. He said, 'I need help.'"
His troubles all began when he was arrested for stealing two cases of beer at age 19, Sapla said.
"All of this has been over two cases of beer, and they've treated him like he killed 100 people."
According to parole authorities, Wayman was arrested for a series of misdemeanors after he turned 18. He was convicted of three felonies, including a 1987 robbery and was put on probation.
The Saplas said the theft of beer should have been considered shoplifting, but wasn't.
He violated probation twice but was released. Then in 1990 he was convicted for firearms possession in a 1990 standoff, when he barricaded himself and Shellnell Kaua, then his girlfriend, in an Ewa Beach home.
