3 shot in family murder-suicide
Police say a man killed his ex-wife and shot her child before killing himself
A family dispute apparently caused a Waipahu man to kill his ex-wife and critically wound her daughter before shooting himself in the head yesterday, police said.
Neighbors said the three would often get into fights. They identified the dead gunman as 36-year-old Joe Crow, who allegedly shot Flores Crow, 34, in the head at 12:42 a.m. as they sat inside a green truck on Leokane Street near Pupuole Street. The two were later identified as Joel Norva and Yolanda Crawford.
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Shortly after, a witness driving nearby found the daughter, 14-year-old Emily Crawford, who was also shot once in the face, calling for help.
Crawford told the witness she was hurt and that her mom and stepfather had been shot, police said. She was taken in critical condition to St. Francis-West Medical Center and later transported to the Queen's Medical Center. A hospital spokeswoman at Queen's declined to talk about Crawford's condition last night, but her neighbors said the bullet shattered her jaw and that she could lose an arm.
Police are investigating the case as a murder and an attempted murder. A 9 mm gun was found between the man's legs, said Capt. Frank Fujii of the Honolulu Police Department.
"We believe that it is domestic related," said Fujii, who did not have more details.
Norva and Yolanda Crawford had been a quiet couple who did not cause any trouble since moving into a second-floor apartment on West Loch View two months ago, said Marie McShane, the building's manager for the past 11 years. Though McShane described Norva as "a quiet man who kept to himself," she said he was mostly friendly and always waved hello.
"The dad was a punk before; he used to hit them. Then after he thought about it, he didn't want to hit them. He was talking to me last night, like 10 or 11 (at night), and he was like, 'I don't care what happens to Emily, no joke, no joke, I don't care.' He was stressed, I guess."
Sherice Ventura
Best friend of teen victim, about dead gunman Joel Norva
"I couldn't believe it. It hurts, it really hurts," said McShane, 47, who found out about the shooting after seeing police cars on the road while walking her dogs about 3 a.m.
McShane said Yolanda Crawford worked at Wal-Mart in Kunia and at a restaurant. She couldn't remember what Norva, the teen's stepfather, had been doing for a living.
Crawford just graduated from eighth grade at Waipahu Intermediate School and is preparing to enter Waipahu High School, said her best friend, 13-year-old Sherice Ventura.
"When I found out about it, I was really weak inside," said Ventura, who met Crawford in fifth grade. "Usually, I'm excited, I'm happy when I'm with her."
A few hours before the shooting, Ventura said Norva was acting strange, saying he didn't care about his daughter.
"The dad was a punk before; he used to hit them. Then after he thought about it, he didn't want to hit them," she said. "He was talking to me last night, like 10 or 11 (p.m.), and he was like, 'I don't care what happens to Emily, no joke, no joke, I don't care.' He was stressed, I guess."
According to Roxane Ventura, Sherice's mother, the couple had four other children, two girls and two boys, now staying with an aunt in Pearl City.
"He was not very sociable," Roxane Ventura, 44, said of Norva. "We are shocked."
Police said the incident was the eighth homicide of 2006, compared with six at the same time last year.
CORRECTION
Friday, July 7, 2006
» Joel Norva apparently shot Yolanda Crawford before killing himself in Waipahu on Monday. An article on Page A1 Monday gave incorrect names.
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