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XEROX SHOOTINGS

Prosecutor hopes visit
to the scene will show
Uyesugi’s ‘organized’ mind

Survivors key witnesses
The prosecution
The defense
The scene
The events
The weapon

By Debra Barayuga
Star-Bulletin

The carpets have been replaced. The bullet holes have been filled in and the walls repainted.

By all appearances, the white concrete Xerox Building looked the same as it did more than six months ago, except that there were no employees in sight.

What jurors saw yesterday during a 40-minute visit to the building on North Nimitz Highway was almost exactly how it looked before Byran Uyesugi allegedly walked in last November and fired at seven co-workers with a semiautomatic handgun.

Uyesugi did not accompany his attorneys and the jury to the building yesterday.

"I decided not to go," he told Circuit Judge Marie Milks during questioning in court earlier. He denied being pressured by his lawyers in reaching his decision.

The Tech Rep/Computer Room where two died.

The state had requested that the jury visit the scene to help them better understand the evidence that will be presented to them over the coming weeks.

City Prosecutor Peter Carlisle had indicated that understanding Uyesugi's movements that morning will show that his actions were that of an "organized" mind, not one who was unable to determine right from wrong or control his actions as a result of a mental disease or defect.

Uyesugi's attorneys are raising the insanity defense, saying he suffered from a mental disorder that prevented him from knowing right from wrong and conform his conduct to the law.

Conference Room where five died.

Twelve jurors and four alternates were escorted through the building individually by Milks' bailiff, Stephen Miwa, and shown the two rooms on opposite ends of the building where the seven victims were shot. Each juror took the tour in about 2 minutes and none showed a strong reaction to what they saw, said designated pool reporter Ken Kobayashi, who accompanied Uyesugi's attorneys and Milks on separate tours of the building.

Two cameramen were able to take pictures in the rooms where the carnage took place, but only after the jurors had left the building.

Laurie LaGrange, spokeswoman for Xerox, said officials will not comment on any of the court proceedings or evidence presented until the conclusion of trial.

A request from employees uncomfortable about working at the building after the shooting prompted Xerox to begin looking for another site for its warehouse, she said. Officials hope to find a new site by the end of summer.

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The events

Using the Xerox building's second-story floor plan, here's a look at the events of Nov. 2, 1999, shortly after 8 a.m., according to the prosecutor.

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1

A "calm" Byran Uyesugi enters the building; under his shirt is a loaded semi-automatic handgun and two extra magazines of ammunition.

He sees Lance Hamura on the first floor and chats briefly. Then he goes to the second floor, down the hallway and to the Tech Rep/Computer Room.

He unholsters his gun and kills two men -- Ron Kawamae and Jason Balatico -- but spares Randal Shin.

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2

Uyesugi walks back to mauka side of building and goes to the Conference Room (Room 200), where he kills five more men: Melvin Lee, John Sakamoto, Ron Kataoka, Peter Mark and Ford Kanehira.

In the break room across the hall (Room 210), Ronald Yamanaka hears the gunshots and emerges to see Uyesugi in "the combat stance." He runs to the Tech Rep/Computer Room and sees two bodies and Shin still in shock. The two flee via the makai staircase.

In Room 209, Steve Matsuda, on the phone with Xerox headquarters, hears gunshots. He also flees down the makai staircase.

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3

Uyesugi fires at Matsuda as he flees down the stairs. But he misses, then reholsters his gun under his shirt and calmly leaves the building via the mauka staircase.

He drives away in a company van and parks near the Hawaii Nature Center in Makiki where he is spotted by a jogger at 9:45 a.m. After three hours of negotiations, he surrenders.

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The weaponry

The gun: A 9mm, semi-automatic Glock Model 17 handgun; it was loaded with a magazine containing 17 rounds.
The ammunition: High-velocity, hollow-point bullets. "(They) flatten and shred on impact with human flesh and bone," says Prosecutor Carlisle. "It rips through the body."

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Xerox killings