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When Solomon Kamauu Jr. saw a man with a rifle enter the basement elevator at Castle Medical Center, he did not have to think. His crisis prevention and intervention training just took over. HPD honors
guard’s heroismSolomon Kamauu Jr. helped
to disarm a man in a hospitalBy Nelson Daranciang
ndaranciang@starbulletin.comPolice Chief Lee Donohue presented Kamauu, 50, a security guard at the hospital, the Honolulu Police Department's Civilian Medal of Valor yesterday for disarming the man.
The medal is the highest award bestowed by the department on private citizens.
Kamauu said he yelled to the person getting out of the elevator to hold the door open for him. He entered the elevator, cornered the man to prevent him from pointing the weapon at anyone, then asked him what he was going to do at the hospital.
"He told me he was going to take care of business," Kamauu said.
According to court documents, 39-year-old Ervan Kaneshiro went to Castle with a loaded AR-15 assault rifle on Feb. 10 to get his medical records, which he had not been able to obtain in the past. Kaneshiro was admitted to Castle's psychiatric ward five times between 1995 and 1999, according to court records.
Kamauu ordered Kaneshiro to give him the rifle, which he did. Kamauu handed the rifle to hospital food service employee Laurie Yagi, the person who held the elevator door open.
Kamauu then ordered Kaneshiro to turn around while he called for his partner, Edward Borges Jr., on the radio. Kamauu and Borges ordered Kaneshiro to the floor, and while Borges and two men who were also in the elevator restrained Kaneshiro, Kamauu secured the rifle in a nearby office, then returned and applied a plastic restraint around Kaneshiro's wrists just before police arrived.
During the entire episode, "there was no struggle, nobody got hurt," Kamauu said.
For their efforts, Donohue presented Yagi a Certificate of Merit, and a Letter of Appreciation to Borges.
Donohue praised the three for their efforts in making their community safer, but he also said he does not encourage what Kamauu did.
Even Kamauu's brother, who is a police officer, was surprised when he heard what his older brother had done.
"I said, 'What were you thinking?' But in the overall picture, it's good he did what he did because of the amount of people that were in the hospital. I'm very proud of him, very proud."
The switch on Kaneshiro's rifle was in the ready-to-fire, semiautomatic mode, and there were 20 rounds in the magazine, according to court records. However, there were no rounds in the firing chamber, Borges said.
Kamauu learned crisis prevention and intervention techniques during his 10 years at Castle.
Kaneshiro is at the Oahu Community Correctional Center with no opportunity for bail as he awaits trial for illegally carrying a loaded firearm. His trial was supposed to have started last month but was postponed so the court can determine whether he is mentally fit to proceed.
Kaneshiro's mother said she gave police other firearms that belong to her son.