Modified rounds used
in shootout, officer saysOliver Tela is charged in the
confrontation with police in Kaimuki
A man charged in last Monday's shootout with police in Kaimuki carried modified rifle cartridges that could have been fired by the BB gun he was carrying, said Honolulu police Detective Larry Tamashiro.
Tamashiro testified yesterday in Oliver Tela's preliminary hearing. Tela, who turns 28 on Thursday, is charged with being a felon in possession of ammunition and seven counts of terroristic threatening.
Honolulu District Judge Lono Lee sent the case to Circuit Court for trial. Tela remains in custody in lieu of $400,000 bail. His arraignment is scheduled for Oct. 6.
Police recovered 20 .22-caliber rifle cartridges and 10 to 15 .30-caliber rifle cartridges, Tamashiro said.
The cartridges are too big to fit into the barrel of the BB gun, but plastic straws taped to their bases fit inside the barrel and would allow them to be fired by the gun, said Curtis Kubo, HPD criminalist.
"The BB from the air pistol would strike the primer, and that would discharge the cartridge," he said.
Kubo said he successfully fired one of the modified .22-caliber rounds with the BB gun but another modified .22-caliber cartridge failed to discharge.
Kubo identified the BB gun as a Daisy semiautomatic air pistol model 693.
Police found gunpowder residue on Tela, Tamashiro said. However, police were not able to determine whether Tela fired any modified cartridges in the manner Kubo described. Kubo said he test-fired the BB gun before checking it for gunpowder residue.
Officer Bienvenido Villaflor said he was no more than 10 feet away from Tela when he fired three rounds at the suspect. One of Villaflor's shots grazed Tela in the right shoulder, causing a minor injury.
Villaflor and officer Jason Hendricks were responding to a minor traffic collision near Harding and 6th avenues in Kaimuki on Sept. 15 when they discovered that one of the drivers, Tela, was wanted on a $10,000 bench warrant.
When Tela refused to be arrested, Villaflor said he sprayed Tela with pepper spray three times.
Villaflor said he fired two shots when Tela pulled out what appeared to be a handgun and pointed it at Hendricks. He said he fired a third round when Tela turned his weapon on him. Tela then fled to a nearby home, from where the suspect fired two shots, Villaflor said.
"I heard two popping sounds from his direction," Villaflor said.
No one was injured and police did not find any spent rounds, Tamashiro said.
Tela fled from the home and was eventually arrested three blocks away.
