The sole officer who fired multiple shots at Wayman Kaua during a 2019 15-hour standoff with police at a Pacific Palisades home testified he never had personal knowledge of striking Kaua, though he received multiple gunshot wounds.

Honolulu Police Department Detective Jonathan Frye, then a patrol officer, struck Kaua multiple times with what he thought was six rounds fired from two locations using his personal AR-15 rifle that Sept. 12, 2019, morning.

The state is trying to prove to jurors that Kaua, 54, is guilty of first-degree attempted murder for trying to kill three officers, not including Frye, who the state contends was threatened.

Kaua’s attorney offered a suicide-by-cop defense, that his client never intended to shoot police and even begged officers to shoot him.

The standoff is reminiscent of Kaua’s dramatic 1998 22-hour hostage situation involving his wife and another woman at an upper Pearl City home, which also paralyzed the Pacific Palisades community, which could not leave the area for fear of being caught in the crossfire.

The night before the 2019 standoff, girlfriend Marika Tachera broke up on the phone with Kaua, Deputy Public Defender Earl Aquino said during his opening statement. Kaua wanted his life to end but believed suicide was an unforgivable sin, and instead wanted to die at the hands of police with Tachera by his side.

Frye said he responded that morning to a Pearl City home in the area of 2292 Apoepoe St., where Kaua was said to have fired a gun outside and threatened his ex-girlfriend.

Before arriving, Frye said he stopped at a park, took out his personal AR-15 from the trunk of his blue-and-white patrol car and placed it on the passenger seat.

He parked 150 feet makai of the house at the intersection of Apoepoe and Awahiwa streets, and saw Kaua standing with a shotgun next to his Nissan Rogue parked in front of the house.

Kaua went up the exterior stairs to the second floor and pointed his gun at Frye, who fired three shots from his rifle, according to a January court order and findings of fact.

Frye testified Wednesday he fired at the suspect while he was standing on the outside stairs leading to the second floor, where Tachera lived. Kaua ended up with his back on the landing, his hands over his chest, with the firearm in his arms.

“I ordered him to push the gun away,” he said, and repeatedly yelled at him.

Frye confirmed that after a few minutes Kaua started to slide down the stairs, feet first.

Deputy prosecutor Scott Bell asked, “You told us you are unaware, had no personal knowledge Mr. Kaua had been shot?”

Frye denied ever having any knowledge whether any bullet he fired struck Kaua.

Lead detective Scott Sato testified eight spent rifle casings were recovered, which could indicate the number of times Frye fired the AR-15.

Officer Eric-John Namoca, who also responded to the scene that morning, testified he heard on the police radio Frye shot Kaua and that Kaua sustained injuries and was later taken by ambulance to a hospital.

Deputy Prosecutor Scott Bell, in his opening statement, said Kaua struck Frye’s police car when he fired his unregistered, shortened- barrel 12-gauge shotgun, and there was testimony of damage to the car.

The three officers Kaua is accused of trying to kill had taken cover behind Frye’s squad car after hearing a shot from a shotgun, and felt the vibration of the shot to the car and saw a hole in the upstairs window, the findings of fact said.

Aquino asked Frye whether the shotgun Kaua held was pointed at Frye or anyone else.

“Not to my knowledge,” Frye responded.

He also asked whether he heard Kaua say, “I’m not a bad guy,” and “Shoot me. Shoot me,” the latter heard by multiple police officers who testified.

“I don’t recall hearing that,” Frye said.

Frye said he was about 150 feet away when he heard shotgun fire from the driveway and a female voice scream loudly, and moved closer.

He took cover behind Kaua’s Nissan Rogue parked in front of the house, with two other officers.

During cross-examination, Aquino asked whether the other two officers shot at Kaua, to which he said no.

Frye said he took aim at the second floor, saw Kaua’s left profile and left side of his face, while Kaua raised his shotgun, held at eye level.

Frye testified he shot at his torso, that Kaua’s left side was facing him and that he did not shoot Kaua’s back. Kaua appeared to flinch after three rounds, he said.

Aquino said in his opening statement that Kaua received multiple gunshot wounds, including to his back.

He asked Frye whether he would be in trouble if he had shot Kaua in the back, to which he replied, “Yes.”

HPD officer Lianne Tomishima, who was standing near Frye, across the street from the house, testified Thursday that she heard a shot from inside the house and a woman scream, then officers converged on the scene.

From where she stood, she had a clear, unobstructed view of Kaua on the second floor, saw the window flexing several times and could hear someone pounding it. She said the lone male was aiming the gun outside the window after he flexed it.

Tomishima later retracted her statement after reviewing her 2019 report, which said she did not see him aiming the gun at anyone and was merely holding it.

That’s when Frye fired four rounds from his AR-15.

Tomishima said Kaua’s family friend Bill Takeuchi came up to her and called Tachera’s cellphone, which was still in the house after Tachera left after he was shot.

The phone was on speaker, and Tomishima testified that she told Kaua, “We’re here to help him. He’s safe as long as he has nothing in his hands.”

She said they spent an hour on the phone from 10:46 a.m., and she was aware he had been shot and his breathing was labored. She told him, “If you have to crawl, you have to crawl.”

Tomishima testified Kaua said, “Tell ’em get ready. I’m going to shoot. I’m going to fire a round when I get outside. I did wrong. God’s not going to forgive me, and I’m not going back to jail.”

Aquino asked Frye whether he chatted with other officers about the case at the command post before filing his report at 11:48 p.m. the day of the shooting, 13 hours after he was relieved of his duties. Frye said he was sequestered after he was relieved of his duties at 10:45 a.m. and did not discuss with other officers what had happened.

An HPD evidence specialist identified photos taken of Kaua’s injuries at the hospital emergency room of his left shoulder and arm, left waist and hip, lower left side, left knee, right eyebrow and right hand, but did not include back injuries that the defense said he received.

She said he was treated at the ER, then released at 4 a.m. Sept. 13, 2019.

An officer said he accompanied Kaua in the ambulance to the hospital, where he was treated and released, then taken to the main police station for booking.

Aquino questioned Sato as to whether he directed any HPD personnel to collect shotgun shell waddings to determine what direction the shotgun was fired at, or to use a metal detector to search for buckshot, which also would indicate where he fired the firearm, and whether there was any testing for shotgun patterning to show the spread pattern of buckshot.

Sato also said police tried but never got a formal statement from Tachera. Takeuchi declined to comment, and Tachera’s nephew gave only a verbal statement to patrol.