The city Medical Examiner’s Office has identified the man shot and killed by police officers in Aina Haina yesterday as Mark Ahnee, 28, of Mililani.

Police said Ahnee fled from a pursuit and shot at them with a shotgun before he was shot several times by police officers pursuing him on foot at Kalanianaole Highway and Ainakoa Avenue about 3 p.m.

A second man, Michael Edward Manning Jr., 35, was arrested a few blocks away and is awaiting charges in connection with a series of car thefts that led to the pursuit and shooting.

Police are also looking into whether the two men were involved with an attempted armed robbery at a Waikele Zales store last weekend.

One of the masked suspects in that case used a shotgun in an unsuccessful attempt to break open a bullet-proof jewelry case. The suspects also fled in a stolen car that was later found burned in Waipahu.

"They (detectives) are looking into the possibility that they are the same men," said Sgt. Kim Buffet, head of Crimestoppers Honolulu, which issued a bulletin on the Zales case and released security camera video of the suspects earlier this week.

Both suspects have extensive criminal records.

Ahnee was convicted for robbery in 2002 and car theft  in 2001.

Manning has 19 convictions going back to 1994. He has spent time in prison for car theft, burglary assault and terroristic threatening.

Police today are continuing their investigation into yesterday’s crime spree, which tied up traffic in east Honolulu for hours as police closed Kalanianaole Highway to investigate the case.

The chain of events started at about 3 p.m. with a call about two men breaking into cars near the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

About 10 minutes later the officers were following the stolen vehicle in Aina Haina where they saw it crash into a barrier on Kalanianaole Highway near Ainakoa Avenue.

Two men ran from the vehicle, one armed with a shotgun. One man, who appeared to be in his mid-20s, ran back toward the freeway along Kalanianaole Highway, while the second man ran makai into a residential area, where he punched a driver and stole a car, police said.

"Officers were pursuing the (armed) suspect on foot when he turned and fired at them," said Deputy Police Chief Randy Maca dang dang.

He said the gunman was trying to steal an occupied vehicle when an officer in a marked police car drove between the armed suspect and the driver.

The gunman fired again at the officers, who shot back several times, striking him multiple times, police said.

Kimberly Seko of Aina Haina, who was about 20 feet away from the the suspect when he fired his shotgun, said schoolchildren scrambled to get out of the way when the shooting started. They were not injured.

Ahnee was taken to a hospital in critical condition, where he died. The Medical Examiner’s office said an autopsy will be conducted Monday.

The second assailant, 35, who took a car, was stopped about a quarter-mile down Kalanianaole Highway near Holy Nativity Church after apparently causing at least one other accident, police said. He was arrested on suspicion of unauthorized entry into a motor vehicle and three counts of first-degree robbery.

"In addition to the multiple attempted murder cases, the shooting and the auto theft, there were also multiple car accidents that had to be investigated," said Maj. Richard Robinson.

Police closed Kalanianaole at Ainakoa Avenue after the shooting and said they investigated at least four crime scenes along the highway up to Holy Nativity Church.

Two other people were injured but refused treatment. One man was hurt by the assailant, who punched him to take his car, and another man sustained minor injuries when the police car collided with his pickup truck on Ainakoa Avenue.

Macadangdang said four officers who were involved in the shooting are on paid administrative leave, as is standard procedure in an officer-involved shooting investigation.

 Star-Advertiser reporter Gregg Kakesako constributed to this story.