Argument over woman
led to shooting

A man who was shot three times in Kalihi last week testified he knew his assailant but did not realize the man was dating his ex-girlfriend.

Bryan Flores, 20, who survived the Aug. 17 shooting, testified yesterday in Honolulu District Court that Zaldy Tomas shot him after Flores demanded to know why he had been driving a car belonging to Flores' former girlfriend.

Tomas is charged with second-degree attempted murder and firearm offenses in the shooting.

Through an Ilocano interpreter, Flores testified that he saw a group of friends drinking by Owen Lane and North King Street that evening and was going to join them when he spotted Tomas leaning against a white truck nearby.

He said he was angry when he confronted Tomas near the truck. Flores said he saw what appeared to be a black handgun in Tomas' hand.

"It happened so fast," Flores said. "I shoved him."

That was when Tomas shot him in the face, he said. The gun was about three inches from Flores' face when Tomas fired, Flores said during questioning by deputy prosecutor DeAnn Afualo.

The first bullet struck him in the left cheek. "I got dizzy, fell on my knees, tried to get up, and then he shot me in the back" twice, Flores said.

Bleeding, he stumbled home across the Ola Lane overpass to his Ahu Lane home a quarter-mile away where his brother called police, he said.

Flores said he spent five days in the hospital recovering, but doctors were unable to remove the three bullets. One is lodged in his right temple near his ear, another behind his left ear and the third under his left armpit.

During questioning by David Bettencourt, Tomas' court-appointed attorney, Flores said he was angry when Tomas told him at Owen Lane that he was driving the car because he was going to pick up his girlfriend. He said he did not know Tomas was seeing his ex-girlfriend.

But he admitted he had seen his ex-girlfriend with Tomas several days earlier at Ala Moana Center and that he shoved Tomas and walked away.

The couple had broken up about a month ago, but Flores acknowledged that he hoped they would get back together and kept calling her on her cell phone.

Flores also admitted to carrying a knife for protection when he walked home at night from work. He denied being armed on Aug. 17.

At least one witness reported seeing Flores punch Tomas in the face, said police Detective Paul Nagata.

District Judge Edwin Nacino ruled there was probable cause to believe Tomas committed the offenses, and ordered the case be sent to Circuit Court. Tomas will be arraigned Sept. 6. He is being held in lieu of $100,000 bail.