Moses Elijah Naone:
Father says “There’s no excuse
for what happened.”
During a span of 24 days in October, the 16-year-old Kalihi boy allegedly participated in two beating deaths and a drive-by shooting.
"There's no excuse for what has happened, no justification," said Amos Naone, the boy's father. "We just hope that he can learn something from all this.
"His mom and I still love him and no matter what path he has to take, we will be with him," he added. "Hopefully, maybe someday he will be able to do something to help others to avoid the situation he's in."
The boy is a co-defendant in two separate murder cases, stemming from the beating deaths of Tafilele Mika (Oct. 2) and Sam Talo (Oct. 18). He also is charged as an adult with attempted murder for a drive-by shooting Oct. 26 in Papakolea.
Amos Naone, who went to Papakolea Oct. 30 to personally apologize for his son's actions, was in the courtroom yesterday when District Judge Tenney Tongg ruled that Moses Naone and Ryan Edayan, 17, will be tried for the drive-by shooting. Edayan, who is also charged with murder in the Talo case, is accused of a firearms offense and reckless endangering in the drive-by shooting.
According to witness statements, Moses Naone and Edayan were passengers in a white convertible from which shots were fired at a crowd of people in front of Papakolea Park.
Detective Mark Hibbs testified that the convertible had been involved in a traffic incident earlier with a maroon Cadillac. Naone and Edayan, who were not in the convertible at the time of the traffic incident, allegedly later went with the driver of the suspect car to Papakolea.
Edayan told Hibbs that he fired a single shot when he saw a man coming toward the car.
"He was afraid that a confrontation would follow so he said he fired a shot to scare off the person," Hibbs said.
After firing the shot, Edayan said he leaned back on the front-seat passenger side of the car and heard a volley of six to eight shots being fired from the back seat.
Although not identified, Moses Naone was reportedly the only passenger in the back seat.
In addition to a police-sponsored dance at the park, there were two parties in the area and between 20 to 50 people - some of them armed with rocks and beer cans - had gathered on Tantalus Drive to confront the convertible, which had driven by earlier.
No one was seriously wounded in the shooting but at least one car was damaged.
Amos Naone recalled that when he first told his son about the apology he'd made, the boy's response was why.
"I told him I was trying to correct something I felt was wrong," Naone said.
"They need to see there's more than just what others do to them."