Honolulu police Sunday arrested a 23-year-old man in connection with the beating death of a 64-year-old man at an apartment building in the Ala Moana area.
The deadly beating occurred Sunday afternoon at Six Twenty Sheridan, a five-story residential building near the corner of Sheridan Street and Kapiolani
Boulevard.
Police responded to a
defibrillator-type call on Sheridan Street just before
3:30 p.m. When officers arrived they found the victim on the sidewalk “bleeding profusely” from his head, police said.
Honolulu Emergency Medical Services personnel arrived and treated the victim. He was taken in critical condition to The Queen’s Medical Center. Police said his condition deteriorated and he later died.
The Honolulu Medical Examiner’s Office has yet to release the man’s name.
Through a police investigation, it was determined the victim was attempting to evict the 23-year-old suspect’s girlfriend from her unit when the altercation occurred.
After the suspect physically assaulted the victim, the suspect fled in a black Nissan sedan.
Lt. Deena Thoemmes of the Honolulu Police Department’s Homicide Detail said no evidence of weapons was found.
Officers of the District 1 Crime Reduction Unit located the suspect on
Hopaka Street at about
7:40 p.m. Sunday and arrested him on suspicion of second-degree murder.
Shawn Giles said he was inside his fourth-floor apartment in the building when he heard loud banging sounds somewhere outside of his unit. The sounds appeared to come from the fire exit stairwell.
He exited his unit, checked the stairwell and came upon a large “pool of blood” in the corner of the second-floor stairwell.
A trail of blood was also seen leading down the steps toward the exit door.
Giles followed the trail. Once he stepped outside, Giles saw the suspect dragging a man who appeared to be unconscious down the concrete steps fronting the apartment building.
The victim was approximately 5 feet 2 inches tall and about 120 pounds, and the suspect was about 5 feet 10 inches tall and 250 pounds.
Giles said, “I yelled at him, ‘What are you doing? Put him down! Stop!’”
Giles recalled the suspect saying, “I’m going to help him. The victim needs help. … Call 911.”
Giles said he ran back to his apartment to grab his cellphone and call 911. He rushed back outside and saw the suspect place the victim on the lava rock retaining wall fronting the building.
The suspect then entered a parked black sedan in front of the structure. Giles said a woman next to the vehicle yelled, “Don’t leave” before he sped off.
The victim was barely breathing before EMS arrived, Giles said.
Traces of blood were visible on the retaining wall Monday afternoon.
According to Giles, the victim owned a unit on the second floor.
He described the 64-year-old man as considerate and recalled seeing him at previous homeowners association meetings. He was involved and he cared, he said. “He was never argumentative or pushy.”