COURTESY OF KITV A bullet-riddled truck, at top, involved Friday in a shootout with police, came to rest just off Kahekili Highway in Kaneohe.

Slain man’s brother
questions HPD actions

An official defends officers'
use of deadly force as justified

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By Diana Leone
dleone@starbulletin.com

To Honolulu police who fatally shot Arnold Willets to death Friday in Kaneohe, he was a threat to public safety, a convicted felon firing a shotgun at police officers as he drove down Kahekili Highway.

To Willets' big brother, Don, he was "a very beautiful person" who had tried to clean up his life since getting out of prison earlier this year, a man who had a girlfriend and was trying to be a father to her children.

But, Don Willets admitted yesterday, "my brother, we knew that he had one ice problem."

Don Willets said he believes his brother was high on the drug when he fled after an undercover policeman at a Kahaluu park asked for his identification.

During the ensuing chase, police said Arnold Willets, 36, fired on them three times. The dramatic shootout ended when officers shot him to death Friday at Kaneohe District Park.

COURTESY OF KITV The shotgun that was used by the suspect.

Police said yesterday they fired more than 130 bullets during the confrontation.

"At this time of our investigation, the use of deadly force to neutralize the armed suspect appears justified," said Deputy Chief Glen Kagiyama yesterday at a press briefing about the shooting. "It's also apparent that all of our officers reacted as they were trained to do."

Don Willets wishes police had handled the situation differently.

"(Byran) Uyesugi killed seven people," Don Willets said, recalling the convicted killer of co-workers at Xerox in 1999. "Then he ran his ass up to Tantalus and police gave him a soda and talked to him.

"My brother, all he was trying to do was run away and get more high," Willets said. "He wanted to live his life because he's been locked up all his life."

Arnold Willets had eight felony convictions including robbery, kidnapping, auto theft and various firearms violations. In 1993, HPD classified Willets as a career criminal. He was sentenced in 1995 to serve 10 years in prison on a kidnapping charge in connection with the 1992 murder of a 16-year-old Waipahu boy, Salvadore Balanon.

Friday, Arnold Willets first aroused the suspicion of a police officer who was working undercover in Laenani Neighborhood Park. When that officer approached the white, 1988 GMC pickup Willets was driving and asked for some identification, a passenger in the truck got out.

Willets then backed up the truck, ramming the officer's undercover vehicle, and drove away at 12:10 p.m., Kagiyama said. The officer tried to pursue Willets, but lost him until 12:43 p.m., when he spotted Willets, another man and a 2-year-old boy walking toward the parked truck on Iuiu Street, which is about a half-mile from the bayfront park.

The three got into the truck and fled again, Kagiyama said. The undercover officer radioed for assistance and followed them, ending up on Kahekili Highway. On Kahekili, Willets slowed down the truck until he was driving parallel to the officer and fired a shotgun at the passenger-side window of the undercover officer's sport utility vehicle, Kagiyama said.

After that, things moved pretty quickly. Willets turned onto Keaahala Road, but police blocked the way. Willets made a U-turn and fired again at police. This time, Kagiyama said, at least four officers fired about 30 rounds at Willets' truck.

But he didn't stop. Willets ran the red light at the Keaahala-Kahekili intersection and struck a vehicle. His truck ended up in Kaneohe District Park, where he continued to fire at officers. Nine officers fired at least 100 shots in response, Kagiyama said.

Don Willets said yesterday that he doesn't doubt his brother Arnold had a gun, but doesn't think he meant to hurt police.

"I don't think that justifies the way they shot him like a wild animal or a bear," Don Willets said. He believes that once police had Arnold surrounded at Kaneohe District Park, his truck hanging on a cement wall, that they could have tried talking to him. "They said he had one shotgun. That shotgun was only going to shoot 30 feet."

Maj. Darryl Perry, of the criminal investigation division, said police actions Friday were proper. "We are trained not to put other people in harm's way," he said.

At some point during the shooting in Kaneohe District Park, the 2-year-old boy was put out of the truck on the passenger side.

Kagiyama said that uniformed officers were not aware during the shootout that a child was in the truck. "It was a matter of four minutes, very emotional, very trying," he said.

It appears, he said, that the 22-year-old passenger in the truck, the father of the toddler, may have put him outside the truck after it crashed in an attempt to protect him from the gunfire.

KITV 4 News identified the man and the toddler as Christopher Endenfield and his son Kyle.

Both were treated at Queen's Hospital and were expected to be released today, Kagiyama said. Neither that man nor the man in Willets' truck when he was at the Laenani Neighborhood Park face any charges in relation to the incident, he said.

Terry Gouveia, Endenfield's mother, told KITV that she visited her grandson at the hospital Friday night.

"He's scared, but fine. He was crying and asking for his daddy," she said.

"Kyle means the world to Chris, I mean he loves him," Gouveia said. "He was probably shielding him."

Gouveia said her family doesn't know Willets.

"We've never seen him before," she said.

Willets was taken from the scene to Queen's Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. Perry said an autopsy will determine whether Willets had any drugs or alcohol in his system when he died. A Mossberg model 500A pump-action shotgun with a 20-inch barrel was recovered from the truck.

Don Willets said his family learned of his brother's death from the 5 o'clock news Friday and are upset that police haven't told them any details.

In the aftermath of the shootout, Kahekili Highway between the Likelike Highway and Kahuhipa Street was closed until 6:30 p.m. Friday, when only northbound lanes were opened. Kagiyama said detectives worked on the case until midnight and continued yesterday.

Investigators are still trying to determine how many times Willets fired the shotgun and whether he reloaded it during the incident, Kagiyama said. Police are also investigating how Willets got access to the shotgun and the truck. As a convicted felon, Willets could not have legally possessed a firearm. They also are processing the truck for clues and talking to witnesses.

Police said they don't believe officers involved in the case recognized Willets, who was a convicted felon and wanted on a parole violation.

All nine officers involved in the shooting are on paid administrative leave, a standard procedure.

"This has been an emotional trauma for all the officers involved," Kagiyama said. The undercover officer who was shot at has minor injuries from broken glass.

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Honolulu Police Department