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Udani had shotgun Top Honolulu police administrators have reviewed Ala Moana Center security surveillance tapes from Saturday night's shooting, which reportedly show that five officers fired on Michell Udani only while he was armed with a shotgun.
when police fired
A review of Ala Moana
Center surveillance tapes
pinpoints the shootingsStar-Bulletin staff
Udani, who shot his estranged girlfriend Cherry Ann Cachola Domingo twice in the head from point-blank range with a shotgun, fired at three different officers on two occasions, homicide Lt. William Kato said of what he saw on the tapes.
At one point, Udani is seen exiting the passenger side of Cachola Domingo's white Mercedes sports utility vehicle with his right arm raised.
"He then goes back inside and the officers hear one or two more shots," Kato said.
Based on the videotape and witness statements, Kato said at least one of the shots fired at that time was likely the second one directed at Cachola Domingo.
"When the officers first arrived, they saw the SUV parked in a lane, not a stall, and moving forward slowly," Kato said. "The officers thought the girl (in the driver's seat) was still alive.
"But there were a lot of hair fibers and spray of blood on the hood. After looking at the car, the medical examiner, Dr. Kanthi von Guenthner, said she thinks the first shot (at Cachola Domingo) was fired before the officers arrived."
After Udani fired the shots from inside the Mercedes, the videotape shows him exiting the SUV and walking toward the back passenger side of the vehicle, Kato said.
"He turns and fires once (at two officers), steps back toward the open door of the SUV," Kato added.
A three-wheel police vehicle arrives on scene and Udani runs toward the vehicle and fires a round, Kato said.
There are three officers to the right of the Mercedes and two others now approaching from the left. All are firing at Udani.
"He's hit four or five times," Kato said of Udani. "He turns and runs. He gets between two parked cars and falls down.
"When he pops up, he has both arms up, showing everyone he's not armed. Then he turns, runs and falls again between two other parked cars."
Udani once again rises, shows everyone he's not armed and then runs off in an ewa direction. The officers approach with guns drawn and take custody of Udani.
Police had stopped shooting at Udani after he ran off the first time, fell and lost possession of the shotgun, Kato said. "One senior officer called out 'he doesn't have a gun, hold your fire, he doesn't have a gun, hold your fire.' We really can't tell from the tape if shots were fired, but if they had been, it would have shown on his body action. But he turned and ran again."
What killed Udani was a shot to the upper left abdomen that penetrated his chest and damaged his lung and liver. He died from internal bleeding, Kato said.