The family of a 24-year-old Makaha man shot by a police officer near the airport last week said they’ve been prohibited from speaking with him and are concerned about his well-being.
Carlos Lopes-Salas Jr. was shot at about noon Wednesday at Pacific Marina Inn after police said he raised a stolen semi-automatic pistol while officers were trying to arrest him on suspicion of burglary.
One officer fired two shots and hit Lopes-Salas once, police said. Police did not say where he was injured.
Lopes-Salas was taken to the hospital where he was in serious condition, police said. He remained at a medical facility Monday afternoon, a police spokeswoman said.
He has been charged with first-degree terroristic threatening and three firearm offenses. His bail was set at $250,000.
Police arrested Lopes-Salas on Wednesday for investigation of first-degree attempted murder, which covers trying to kill a police officer, but the case was reclassified to terroristic threatening.
“This is wrong what they’re doing,” said Debbie Salas, Lopes-Salas’ grandmother, about the family not being able to get more details about his condition. She wondered whether her grandson was permanently disabled or in a coma.
“To keep us away from our child … We got to suffer, too?” she said.
Salas, an adult correctional officer sergeant at Oahu Community Correctional Center, said police were doing their jobs trying to arrest him, but she wants more information about what happened.
“We don’t have the whole story. We don’t know what really happened,” she said. “We want to know if he’s talking, if he’s unconscious.”
She said her grandson is struggling with crystal methamphetamine use and needs drug treatment.
“We want to see him and talk to him,” she said. “We’re hurting inside.”
A police spokeswoman said Lopes-Salas hasn’t been allowed any visitors because the hospital is unable to provide safety measures to protect the suspect and any visitors. It was not clear why he was allowed to make a phone call.
Salas said her family found out Lopes-Salas had been shot after piecing together bits of information. They heard police were trying to arrest Lopes-Salas in connection with a burglary and saw his picture on a Facebook page called Stolen Stuff Hawaii about a burglary in Waianae on March 14.
The family contacted police after seeing the Facebook post, and a police officer visited the family and confirmed Lopes-Salas was the man who had been shot. The officer said he believed Lopes-Salas was shot in the lower back, Salas said.
Police said officers went to the hotel after receiving information that Lopes-Salas was there. Officers saw Lopes-Salas walking down the stairs, and he fled when officers approached. At some point an officer fired his weapon when Lopes-Salas raised the gun, police said.
Lopes-Salas has 18 prior arrests and was awaiting sentencing on April 8 for felony sexual assault and a robbery, police said. He pleaded guilty to both cases in January.
According to court documents, Lopes-Salas sexually assaulted a 41-year-old woman when he was 20 years old in 2011 and robbed his ex-girlfriend in May 2014.
In the robbery, Lopes-Salas threatened to file custody papers to take his 3-year-old son away from his ex-girlfriend if she refused to meet him at Ala Moana Center, the documents said.
When the woman met him that afternoon, Lopes-Salas threatened her, then reached into her bag, stole $600 and walked away. The woman later told police Lopes-Salas forced her to withdraw $700 from a bank a month earlier.
Lopes-Salas’ mother, Josephine Salas, said she hasn’t been allowed to speak with any health care providers who have treated him.
“I don’t know if he can talk at this point,” she said. “I don’t know if he’s alert, if he’s moving. I don’t know anything.
“It’s been frustrating,” she continued. “It’s been hard. I don’t know who to get to help me.”
She added, “He messed up. (But) he’s still my son.”
