Fear kept a 22-year-old fugitive wanted for attempted murder holed up for 50 hours in a Kahului house, said his attorney shortly after his peaceful surrender Friday afternoon.

“He’s a scared kid,” said David Sereno, attorney for Josiah Tyrone Okudara. “Police had the place surrounded. I understand what the police have to do, but he’s scared.”

With hands up, Okudara walked out at 3:07 p.m. shirtless, displaying numerous tattoos including the Wailuku ZIP code on his neck and his last name emblazoned on his chest, according to officials at the scene.

After communicating since about 1 p.m. Wednesday, police negotiators talked the Maui man out of the house, while his family members waited outside.

Sereno said his client has a defense for the charge of attempted murder and is scheduled to appear in court Monday.

Police could not immediately recover any weapons or inspect the residence because they had to wait several hours for the air to clear before entering the Opukea Street house due to chemical agents, including tear gas, used by police to provoke the surrender, Maui police spokesman Lt. Wayne Ibarra said Friday night.

Tips led detectives Wednesday to the house where the occupants failed to cooperate with police and barricaded themselves inside, police said.

The Maui Police Department’s Special Response Team’s Tactical and Crisis Negotiation Teams surrounded the house.

Meanwhile, police evacuated residents from nearby homes and blocked off streets, forcing residents to spend two nights at a Red Cross shelter or stay elsewhere.

The standoff, while unusual, is not unprecedented. Maui Police Chief Gary Yabuta recalled a standoff in the mid-’90s lasting for days.

Yabuta credits the teamwork, professionalism, dedication and compassion of Maui police and federal and state law enforcement agencies. “It was a combination of a lot of people knowing their job and being dedicated and hanging in there and resolving the situation in a nonviolent manner,” he said.

The negotiators’ ability “to build trust and never giving up” contributed to the successful outcome, Yabuta said.

The standoff, however, never involved hostages, police said. Okudara’s only request was to come out with his life.

Police negotiators maintained communication using police equipment similar to a phone and a bullhorn. Police spokesman Wayne Ibarra said many asked police why it took so long.

He explained negotiators had to build a rapport with Okudara “to give up his firearm and come out with the assurances he wasn’t going to get hurt.”

Ibarra added, “If he was to surrender, he didn’t want to get killed.”

Two women and a boy, 2 to 3 years old, voluntarily left the house Wednesday night, and a man exited Thursday.

Police arrested the three adults, who appeared to be in their 20s, said Ibarra.

Officers reported hearing gunshots within the house on each of the three days, but police never returned fire, police said. Ibarra could not say whether any shots were fired or aimed outside, but no one was injured.

Okudara, who had been on the run for more than a year, was sought on warrants charging him with two counts of attempted murder and promoting dangerous drugs, reckless driving, possession of a firearm in the commission of a separate felony and reckless endangering in a July 24, 2010, shooting in which he shot at a vehicle, injuring a man in the leg, said the U.S. Marshals Service, whose help was requested by prosecutors in March.

Okudara led police on a high-speed chase after the shooting. He was arrested but released pending further investigation. After learning of the warrants, he continued to elude police, the agency said.

In May police asked for the public’s help in finding him.

He was also wanted as a person of interest in a May 14 crash that killed 22-year-old Tiare Franco, who was thrown from a pickup truck that plunged from a cliff off Maui’s Kahekili Highway, police said.

Okudara’s only convictions were misdemeanors and petty misdemeanors.