Little Pinoys Bad Boys Illocano gang members enter the mayor's chambers "with attitude." Photo by Ken Sakamoto, Star-Bulletin

Only time will tell if yesterday's meeting between 11 members from the same gang as a youth fatally shot by police last month and Mayor Jeremy Harris will have any significant effect in closing the gap.

Harris met with Little Pinoys Bad Boys Illocano members at the request of Adult Friends for Youth, which encouraged the youths to try a different approach to express their concerns.

Tension between gang members threatening retaliation and police has been building since June 7 when 16-year-old auto-theft suspect Jared Fe Benito was killed and Chauncey Hata was wounded by police gunfire.

"In this case, the issue is violence against police officers," Harris said. "We're not going to put up with it, and I think it's important for gang members to know that."

Little Pinoys Bad Boys Illocano gangs are established islandwide and each has its own leader so no one group can speak for another, member Howard Kiyota said.

"We not going to retaliate, but some might," Kiyota added.

Harris noted that he was not responsible for the media attention the meeting attracted.

"The media circus has resulted not from anything coming from the mayor's office," he said. "I agreed to meet with them quietly . . . and discuss their concerns - to hear them out and for them to hear me out.

Gang members at yesterday's meeting are from Kalihi and Aiea. Fe Benito was from an Ewa gang.

The Fe Benito shooting and police brutality were the primary issues presented by gang members at yesterday's meeting.

"They listened, but it was a waste of time," 16-year-old Kiyota said. "The mayor just lectured us.

"I wanted to tell them I know some of us was wrong but that the way my friend died was even more wrong."

The shooting was unnecessary, Mark Mareno said.

"If he had driven off, they still could have caught 'em," added the 17-year-old Mareno. "They never have to kill 'em."

An internal police investigation into the shooting should be completed by the end of the year, gang members were told.

Domi Cabais, one of the older gang members at age 20, said it could be a "bad trip" if the investigation clears the officers of wrongdoing.

Police are continuously harassing and beating them, gang members said.

"If they no like you because you in one gang or something, they pick you up, take you somewhere, beat you up and just leave you there," said Mareno, who claims he was beaten last year by plainclothes officers on the grounds of Kalakaua Intermediate School.

"The mayor told us he not going tolerate us threatening cops," he added, "but what about when they threaten us?"

If they have complaints, gang members should report them, Harris said. "If they've got concerns about police, the place to take it is the Police Commission," the mayor added.

It's the standard answer, Cabais said. "They always say go to the commission," he added. "We hear the same thing, nothing new."

Added Mareno, "I thought (the mayor) would be more understanding of the way we feel, but I guess not."

Members of the Little Pinoys Bad Boys Illocano gang sit, waiting for Mayor Jeremy Harris yesterday. Two police officers sit by the window. Photo by Ken Sakamoto, Star-Bulletin