Homeowner IDs
his assailantEric Kawamoto testifies
how he came to be shot
by a male intruder
Eric Kawamoto saw immediately that something wasn't right: The Japanese dolls that his sister had made were standing disrobed outside the curio cabinet, and the living room was a mess.
CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM
On the stand yesterday, Eric Kawamoto choked back his emotions, top, as he answered questions from city Prosecutor Peter Carlisle about the day he got shot. In the middle photo, Kawamoto showed how the intruder cocked the gun before shooting him. Asked to identify his shooter, Kawamoto pointed to the defendant, Miti Maugaotega.
As he walked down the stairs June 26 to investigate, a male intruder emerged from the kitchen, pointing a gun at him.
The male said, "I'm going to f---ing shoot you," and "Give me your money!" Kawamoto testified.
Kawamoto, 44, an electrical engineer at Pearl Harbor, choked up during parts of his testimony yesterday in Circuit Court during the trial of 18-year-old Miti Maugaotega, who is charged with attempted murder. The teen is accused of breaking into and burglarizing Kawamoto's Puowaina Drive home in June, then robbing and shooting him.
Kawamoto's testimony contradicts defense statements last week that suggested Maugaotega shot Kawamoto because the homeowner forced him to.
Kawamoto did not have a chance to do or say anything before the intruder pointed the gun and threatened him, so he complied with the burglar's orders and tossed him some bills he had pulled out from his wallet.
"I was angry," Kawamoto said. "I was trying to think about how to deal with the situation."
He tried to leave, saying he had to pick up his dog, but the burglar ordered him downstairs instead.
Kawamoto complied and began walking down the stairs to the bedroom level but changed his mind halfway down.
"I thought if I went down there, he'll shoot me anyway, so I stopped and I refused to go farther," Kawamoto said.
"I told him, 'If you're gonna shoot me, f---ing shoot me," Kawamoto said. "He pulled the trigger -- it clicked."
Kawamoto then watched the burglar pull the handgun's slide back and fire again. "He hit me right in the chest."
Kawamoto said he dropped to his knees and felt his chest to find where the bullet had entered and to stop the bleeding.
He said he did not really feel any pain at that point. "It just felt like a pressure," he said.
He managed to walk up the stairs, out the garage and to the neighbor living in the adjacent duplex to get help.
When asked if he could identify his assailant, a composed Kawamoto pointed to Maugaotega sitting at the defense table next to his attorney.
"That's the man," he said.
Maugaotega sat expressionless throughout Kawamoto's testimony.
During questioning by deputy public defender Walter Rodby, Kawamoto admitted he was angry when the burglar confronted him in his home.
He also acknowledged telling the burglar once, "If you're gonna shoot me, just shoot me," but said he made no move toward the intruder before the first shot was fired.
City Prosecutor Peter Carlisle told the jury during opening statements last week that Maugaotega told police on at least two occasions after he was captured that the homeowner "was asking me for shoot 'em," and that was why he fired.
Kawamoto was hospitalized in the Queen's Medical Center for five days.
On the day he was released, doctors cut out the bullet, which had lodged in his back and was only being held in by his skin.
Kawamoto said he has suffered no physical difficulties as a result of getting shot, but the skin around his wound is sensitive.
"There is pain," he said.
If convicted of attempted murder, Maugaotega faces life imprisonment with the possibility of parole.
