XEROX SHOOTINGS
Those who knew
him, if anyone did,
are shocked
His bosses remember him
as a hard worker who
kept his composureFamily, friends care for fish
By Gordon Y.K. Pang
Star-BulletinOne of Byran K. Uyesugi's former bosses recalled the accused killer as a hard-working technician who got along fine with customers but did not appear to have close friends in the office.
K. Francis Uyeno, 62, a retired service manager for Xerox, remembered nothing unusual about Uyesugi's behavior during the two to three years he supervised him in the late 1980s.
"He kept his composure very well. He didn't get upset," the Waipahu retiree said.
As part of his supervisory duties, Uyeno sometimes accompanied Uyesugi on trips to service clients, and Uyesugi worked well with customers, recalled Uyeno, who retired from Xerox 5 years ago, ending a 30-year career with the company.
Although they chatted amiably enough on those drives around Honolulu, Uyeno said, Uyesugi didn't appear to have any close friends among the other Xerox technicians and wasn't the type to stand around and tell jokes. Instead, he seemed somewhat of a loner, he said. Uyeno said he was surprised when he learned that Uyesugi was suspected of killing seven co-workers.
"He didn't show his emotions at all. Something must have built, built, built up, and finally something cracked."
As the 40-year-old Xerox copier repairman is charged with shooting to death seven men in a rampage Tuesday at the company's offices on Nimitz Highway, old friends, colleagues and acquaintances struggle to reconcile the man they thought they knew with police accounts that portray him as a cold-blooded killer.
Most recall a quiet, competent technician who never married or had children, but immersed himself in demanding hobbies as diverse as gun collecting and fish breeding. None foresaw Tuesday's carnage, which ranks among the deadliest acts of workplace violence in the United States, much less Hawaii. Among the dead were Uyesugi's current supervisor and four others on his work team.
Those in fish-collecting who know Uyesugi said they were shocked to hear him associated with the shootings.
"Fish people are pretty calm people. They just enjoy watching the fish," said Vernon Wong, who belonged to the same Hawaii Goldfish and Carp Association as Uyesugi. He had purchased fish from him and visited his home.
"That's why it's such a shock to have a member go off. It's meditative; you feed the fish and see them swimming and admire their gracefulness and calmness."
Modern Pet Center manager May Kishimoto recalled that Uyesugi "said he would sit by the fish and smoke a cigar."
Kishimoto purchased between 20 and 30 mature oranda goldfish from Uyesugi once every two months or so. No one in Hawaii raised more uniform-looking oranda, with perfectly set eyes, vibrant colors and properly sized fins, she said."He was so dedicated."
When fish afficianado Wilson Neal had difficulty keeping the riccia plants afloat in his aquarium, Modern Pet employees told him to seek out Byran Uyesugi.
Uyesugi taught him how to nourish them, to not give them too much nutrition and to give them lots of sunlight.
After Uyesugi's explanation, Neal said, he had no more problems with his plants.
"I thought he was normal. He was just like everybody else," Neal said, describing Uyesugi as a knowledgeable, respected member of the Goldfish and Carp Association who was generally quiet but quick to help or answer questions when asked.
Uyesugi appeared to dive into one hobby full-bore and then, as interest waned, turn to another.
While at Roosevelt High School, from which he graduated in 1977, he was part of the riflery team. From there sprang an interest in guns.
Police seized 18 firearms from Uyesugi's home on Tuesday, including 11 handguns, five rifles and two shotguns. He had tried to get his last gun permit in 1994 but it was denied because he had been arrested the year before for kicking and denting the inside wall of an elevator in a downtown office building.
Asked by a security guard why he kicked the elevator, Uyesugi replied: "I had a bad day. What can I say," according to a report on the incident. The criminal property case was dismissed after Uyesugi had anger-management counseling, his father said.
"We called him a teddy bear," said Inga Park Okuna, who was on the rifle team at Roosevelt High School with Byran Uyesugi.
"He wasn't quiet back then," she said. "He was always joking and acting real silly."
Park Okuna said members of the rifle team hung out together and were close. But Uyesugi didn't return after his sophomore year. She would see him around school, but lost track of him after graduation.
The rifle team held a reunion a few weeks ago, Park Okuna said. But Uyesugi didn't attend. When someone brought out a 1975 yearbook, people looked at the picture of Uyesugi and his rifle that has since been on the news and wondered what happened to him.
Park Okuna said she was "absolutely stunned" to learn that Uyesugi was accused of the killings. She also learned that one of the victims was the husband of one of her co-workers.
"Knowing him and knowing someone who has lost her husband, it's just so awful," Park Okuna said. "It's like a bad dream. I don't know if you can find an answer."
Lester Choi, another rifle teammate from Roosevelt High School, described Uyesugi as a normal, mellow guy.
"He didn't make trouble or anything in school," Choi said.
Choi said Uyesugi was smart and did his homework before ROTC drills after school. He said Uyesugi carried the flag as a member of the ROTC color guard.
"You would not get a negative attitude from him," Choi said, adding that he never saw him get upset. "At matches, win or lose, he didn't show any frustration as far as I know."
Calls to the gun clubs and gun shops on Oahu turned up no information about him or people who knew him. Several shops said they checked their customer records and found nothing.
Uyesugi fixed copiers in the state Capitol for years and recently seemed stressed.
Harry Friel, who works for Rep. Bob McDermott, said when he talked to Uyesugi this summer, Uyesugi seemed unhappy but would not say exactly why.
"He was frustrated but he was quiet," Friel said. "I got the feeling he wanted to talk about his situation but made it out like it wasn't worth discussing or too in detail to talk about."
Ben Villaflor, Senate sergeant at arms, said he sometimes struck up casual conversation with Uyesugi, whom he described as a very thorough worker who "didn't talk to you unless you talked to him."
Star-Bulletin writers Christine Donnelly, Rob Perez, Susan Kreifels and Craig Gima contributed to this report.
Family, friends care for his fish
By Gordon Y.K. Pang
Star-BulletinByran K. Uyesugi sought refuge amid the dozens of fish tanks and aquariums in his Nuuanu home.
Yesterday, as he sat in a police cellblock charged with murder, his tanks were being washed and his goldfish, koi and other fish being readied for distribution to family and friends.
As rain fell gently on Uyesugi's Easy Street neighborhood, "Richard" and another man, friends of Uyesugi, worked in the yard, hosing down and scrubbing fish tanks.
"They're all spoken for," said Hiro Uyesugi, Byran's father, mistaking a reporter for an opportunistic fish collector.
Richard said he and his friend came on their own to help. "I no like 'Pops' do all this by himself."
Richard looked up from scrubbing fish tanks, connected by an elaborate pipe system that Byran Uyesugi apparently designed and put up himself. In spaces in between, there were finely crafted but half-built coffee tables and shelves, also Uyesugi's handiwork.
"All, one man," Richard said.
