A 17-year-old Maili teenager has been charged as an adult with murder in the Feb. 17 shooting death of the 39-year-old owner of Ohikilolo Ranch in Makaha.
On Tuesday at about 10:30 a.m., a “waiver decision was held where the offenses for the 17-year-old was transferred from Family Court to the First Circuit Court,” according to an updated highlight posted online by the Honolulu Police Department.
Chantston Pila Kekawa was “booked and processed as an adult” and charged with second-degree murder, first-degree terroristic threatening, firearm offenses and first-degree theft.
He is being held at the
Kapolei Juvenile Detention Facility with bail set at
$1 million.
According to state court documents, at 2:34 p.m. Feb. 17, Honolulu police officers were sent to the ranch after Cranston Pia’s mother reported “hunters that were pointing a firearm” at her son. Pia was raising a calf and cattle in a pen, where the calf was attacked by a hunting dog. Pia’s mother was calling 911 as the calf was attacked and said she witnessed her son get shot in the head.
“Further information related that the decedent was shot in the head and the suspects had fled towards Farrington Highway,” according to state court records. “Upon arrival of responding officers, the decedent was observed with a single gunshot wound to his head.
Life saving measures were administered.”
Pia was pronounced dead at 3:18 p.m.
Pila Kekawa’s attorney, Victor J. Bakke, told the Star-Advertiser that the shooting was in self-defense after Pia “opened fire on my client and his dogs.”
“My client returned fire with one shot and hit the guy in the head,” said Bakke.
Pia’s mother told police that at about 2:30 p.m., while inside her house, she heard her son say, “Did you release the dogs?”
Pia had said “he heard rustling near the kennel” that held his steer cattle.
Pia saw what “appeared to be wild dogs attempting to injure his steer” and retrieved his 30/30 hunting rifle from a storage shed and “fired one shot at the dogs to scare them.”
After the shot, Pila Kekawa allegedly “appeared from a bush and said, ‘Why did you shoot at my dogs?’”
Pila Kekawa allegedly walked up to Pia, who stood at the driver’s side of his vehicle, “and a verbal altercation began,” according to court documents. Pia’s mother tried to break up the fight, but Pila Kekawa allegedly pushed her with his hands and said, “I going shoot you, too.”
Pila Kekawa was described as a “local male, in his teens, about 5’8” in height, medium build, dark shirt, and holding a black colored handgun.”
As Pia’s mother walked around the rear of her son’s car, “she heard a single gunshot” and then saw her son “fall to the ground” with a single gunshot wound to the right temple.
She called “911 and administered CPR” to her son. She allegedly told police she saw Pila Kekawa holding the 30/30 hunting rifle that belonged to her and that her son used.
Two other boys were seen with Pila Kekawa at the scene, but police determined they were not involved in the fight that led to the fatal shooting.
Two witnesses told police they saw Pila Kekawa and two other boys in a white Toyota pickup truck with dog racks on the back at about 6:41 that evening.
One witness told police that the boys “in the rear bed of the Toyota appeared nervous and panicking.” Police were able to link the truck to Pila Kekawa’s father.
At 7:40 a.m. Feb. 18, an HPD patrol officer pulled over the truck with Pila Kekawa in the passenger seat as his father drove.
Pila Kekawa’s photo was put in a photographic police lineup with five other similar-looking suspects, and he was allegedly identified as the teenager who shot Pia.
He was arrested at
5:20 p.m. Feb. 18.
In addition to owning the ranch, Pia worked as a heavy equipment mechanic at Oahu Transit Services. He is survived by wife Kristen and a daughter.
Ohikilolo Ranch is a “beautiful Hawaiian leeward coastal ranch in Waianae,” featuring mountain vistas overlooking Ohikilolo Valley and the Pacific Ocean with a mile of coastline, according to its website. The ranch raises cattle, grows kiawe trees and ships harvested firewood products in Hawaii and to the mainland.
