Maui police shoot man dead

Officers say the retiree was fired upon while wielding a spear gun

LAHAINA » A Maui man was fatally shot by a patrolman Tuesday night after police responded to a domestic conflict -- the third gunshot death at the hands of law enforcement officers on the Valley Isle within three years.

Romeo Butihi, 58, a retired hotel maintenance worker, was fatally wounded inside his home in a residential neighborhood in Lahaina.

Neighbor Giovanni Martinez said he was returning home from work Tuesday night when he saw police crossing Leoleo Street toward Butihi's home.

"I just seen them going into the house. ... I hear them say, 'Let me see your hands. Let me see your hands,'" Martinez said. Immediately thereafter he heard three shots: "Pow, pow, pow."

Martinez questioned why the police had to shoot Butihi, who was disabled and walked with a cane and has been in a wheelchair in the past. Martinez said he does not understand why police did not use a stun gun to disarm Butihi.

"To me it's crazy. I feel sorry for his family," Martinez said.

Maui police Lt. Glenn Cuomo said four patrolmen responded to a dispatch call after a woman called police at 10:26 p.m. and said her father was threatening her and her mother with a knife.

The daughter took the knife away, but the man grabbed a nail gun and fired a nail into his own chest, Cuomo said. The man then announced "suicidal intentions," Cuomo said. "He also threatened to kill any officers who responded," Cuomo said.

Officers got the wife out of the house, but the daughter remained locked in a bedroom, Cuomo said.

Cuomo said that at about 10:36 p.m. the man walked toward officers holding a spear gun and what appeared to be a rifle and refused to drop the weapons despite several warnings. The rifle turned out to be an air rifle.

Cuomo said one patrol officer fired two shots from his service pistol, striking the man twice, and that the man walked several feet before he collapsed and died at the scene.

Louie Serrano, a neighbor and Butihi's relative, said he does not know what happened but that Butihi was friendly at parties and liked to talk with children. "When you see the family, they happy. ... You no can tell he get problem," Serrano said.

Cuomo said he can understand and respect the feelings of relatives but that the shooting was done in self-defense. "In my experience and after investigating it, it does appear to be justified," Cuomo said.

Cuomo said the patrolman, a 10-year veteran, has been put on paid administrative leave as standard procedure. Cuomo declined to discuss the results of the autopsy and additional details of the fatal shooting until a news conference scheduled for 10:30 a.m. today.

Maui police began a program to arm patrolmen with electrical stun guns, in addition to their standard-issue firearms, after two Maui people were killed nearly three years ago in separate incidents.

Maui police shot 27-year-old Lisa Kaina to death in Paia on Jan. 23, 2004, after she allegedly refused to stop driving a stolen rental car and had reversed toward a patrolman on foot.

Charles B. Ogden, 48, accused of exposing himself to children, was shot at a Kihei beach on Feb. 29, 2004, after he sprayed bear repellent on a police officer and a citizen.