RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM Police officers spoke to witnesses following a shooting yesterday near Waipahu High School.

Victim dies after
shooting in Waipahu

Police seek 2 suspects who fled
the scene in a gray compact car

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By Rosemarie Bernardo
rbernardo@starbulletin.com

Police are looking for two suspects after a fatal shooting yesterday afternoon near Waipahu High School.

The victim, a man in his early 30s, was taken to St. Francis Medical Center-West and then to Queen's Medical Center by helicopter where he died from multiple gunshot wounds to the chest, head and back, police said.

The victim had no association with Waipahu High at 94-1211 Farrington Hwy., and the school was not in session, police said.

Witness Gary Smith said that around 3:19 p.m. on Waipio Point Access Road, one of the suspects held a gun and threatened the victim, who was seated in a white rental compact car. Smith said the suspect with the gun was a man, but police said they have received conflicting accounts on the shooting suspect's gender.

Smith, a teacher at the Leeward Enhancement Program in Waianae, said he, a colleague and two of Smith's children were driving onto Waipio Point Access Road when they noticed the suspect threatening the victim.

Smith said they stopped about 50 feet from the rental car and called police. While Smith was on his cellular phone with a dispatcher, he heard between four to six gunshots fired, he said. The suspect then ran toward a gray compact vehicle parked about 25 feet behind the rental car, and a woman drove the suspect toward Farrington Highway, Smith said.

He described the weapon as a large gun with a long, narrow barrel. Smith and his colleague rushed to the victim and told him that police were on their way.

The victim's eyes were wide open, and he was moaning and had blood on his chin and chest, said Smith.

A Waipahu resident who did not want to give his name said an argument between the suspects and the victim occurred at a home on Waipio Point Access Road just before the shooting.

Police said the shooting suspect is 5 foot 8, weighs 150 pounds, has long, bleached hair worn in a ponytail and was wearing a black shirt with an orange pattern in the front. Police described the driver as a woman, and Smith said she appeared to be in her 20s.