Police were searching for a man who killed one person and injured two others as he unleashed a hail of bullets in a dark alley Saturday in Waikiki.
Police said the gunman fired at a group of people in the alley near the intersection of Seaside and Kuhio avenues at about 5:45 a.m.
A 22-year-old man was taken in critical condition to a hospital, where he died. Two other men, ages 27
and 31, were hospitalized in stable condition, police said.
Police opened a second-degree murder investigation and two attempted first-degree murder investigations. The suspect had not been arrested by Saturday afternoon.
Police on Saturday morning taped off multiple entrances to the alley, which is lined by several businesses, including restaurants, an
indoor shooting range and
a strip club named Club Alley Cat.
Witness Sale Wells, who works security for the alley, said it was still dark and
Club Alley Cat was getting ready to close at 6 a.m. when the shooting began. He said he saw a man walk toward a group of about 20 people hanging out near the entrance to Club Alley Cat when someone yelled that the man had a rifle.
The man fired four shots into the air, walked toward Seaside Avenue, then turned around and fired about 10 to 15 rounds at the group of people, Wells said.
“He shot randomly to the people over there,” Wells said. “The next thing I know, people were crying.”
Wells, a retired 20-year Army veteran, said he didn’t see any shell casings coming from the gun, which momentarily caused him to think the weapon was an air gun. He said the rifle had a magazine attached and he didn’t see any casings on the ground after the shooter left.
One person was shot in the arm and another in the buttocks, Wells said. Another witness, who said she was a nurse, gave aid to an injured man.
The shooter ran out of
the alley and apparently fled in a waiting vehicle on Seaside Avenue. Wells said he didn’t see the vehicle, but he heard it drive up and saw its brake lights in a reflection outside the alley. He said the vehicle sped away after the shooter left the alley.
Wells said the shooter had a dark complexion
and appeared to be in his 20s.
He didn’t know why the man was shooting at the people, and Club Alley Cat employees told him no one had been kicked out of the club earlier in the night.
“He never said a word,” he said of the shooter.