Honolulu Prosecutor Steve Alm announced Thursday that a plainclothes acting police sergeant was justified in the Dec. 28, 2020, fatal shooting of a 45-year-old man in the parking lot of a public-housing apartment complex in Ahuimanu.

According to the investigation by the Honolulu Prosecutor’s Office, the acting sergeant with the District 4 (Kaneohe) Crime Reduction Unit spotted a suspicious vehicle in the parking lot and made a check on it, discovering the Jeep SUV belonged to Caillen Gentzler, wanted on a warrant for parole violation, and that the vehicle was used by him in an alleged kidnapping. The kidnapping allegation, however, was dropped by the complainant.

Alm concluded that the acting sergeant, a 22-year veteran with the Honolulu Police Department, was justified in his use of deadly force because Gentzler drove the SUV in an aggressive manner at several officers, who had to protect themselves from being run over.

During a news conference Thursday at the Honolulu Prosecutor’s Office, Alm laid out how Gentzler tried to kill the officers by revving the engine, reversing in a sweeping motion toward “Officer 1,” a CRU officer with over 10 years of service, and the acting sergeant, then revving the engine again and driving forward toward the officers, but they managed to jump out of the way.

Alm justified the use of deadly force, saying Gentzler was committing first-degree attempted murder in trying to run over the officers.

He cited a state law that says deadly force is justifiable “when the actor is making or assisting in making an arrest and the actor believes that such force is immediately necessary to effect a lawful arrest.”

The prosecutor’s office will file no charges against the acting sergeant, who fired at and struck Gentzler in the head with a single round, and Officer 1, who fired at Gentzler and struck the Jeep in defense of the acting sergeant.

Alm also said they were trying to arrest Gentzler for parole violation, and verbally tried to get him to stop and surrender.

He said the officers were also preventing others from being harmed. Gentzler struck two vehicles parked in the lot.

However, at least one witness feared for the safety of occupants of a nearby apartment. Alm said the parking lot was empty.

Gentzler’s family has retained attorney Eric Seitz, who said that police say that if a car is moving, you can shoot at it.

From their own training, “they’re not supposed to put themselves in a position of danger when a car is moving unless it meets the requirement for use of deadly force,” he said. “They’re supposed to let the person go. Police put themselves in positions of danger … then shoot and kill somebody.”

“Alm doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” Seitz said. “He’s just an apologist for the police.”

The prosecutor’s report said a witness said she saw the suspect in the Jeep reverse, then punch forward fast to leave the area. As the vehicle was going forward, both officers fired at the vehicle. One was standing close to the front when he shot. The other was there, too, but the vehicle appeared to be driving past when he started shooting.

A witness who lives in the apartment complex told the Honolulu Star­-Advertiser days after the shooting that she saw from her window the Jeep reversing out of the parking lot and that the driver appeared to be trying to avoid hitting the CRU officers.

She saw the officer raise and extend his arm to shoulder height and fire directly at the man inside.

“I was worried one of the bullets was going to hit the window of my neighbor’s unit and hurt the kids inside.”

She said the driver appeared severely wounded, and the car slowly reversed. Then she heard a few more gunshots.

Gentzler was slumped over the wheel, and was taken at 11:30 a.m. by ambulance to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Photos showed one shot fired through the back window and out the front. One of multiple holes through the passenger-side window was the fatal shot. (Another went into the hood.)

There is no video of the shooting. There were no body-worn cameras because CRU officers still do not use them, as is HPD policy, and Kaneohe police had not yet been issued them in 2020.

Gentzler’s 12 felony convictions include auto theft, drug and weapons charges in 2016; second-degree theft, kidnapping and robbery in 2005; auto theft in 2004; and theft/forgery in 1999. He had 23 convictions for misdemeanors and petty misdemeanors.

He had alcohol, methamphetamine, amphetamine and Xanax in his blood, according to a toxicology exam.

Alm showed a photo of the rifle and ammunition that were recovered from the SUV’s back seat.

Initially, the acting sergeant called for backup, and several CRU officers arrived.

Gentzler came out of an apartment, saw police and ran toward Kahekili Highway. An officer drove after him, and the acting sergeant and Officer 1 ran after him, identified themselves as police and ordered him to stop.

Gentzler got into his SUV and, while attempting to flee, was shot at in the parking lot of the Hookipa Kahaluu Apartments at 47-330 Ahuimanu Road.

Gentzler was parked, nose forward, in the lot, which had just one opening for entry and exit, and he needed to turn around the vehicle or reverse in order to flee.

The Honolulu Prosecutor’s Office investigated the matter using its own investigators.

Alm said he reviewed some witness statements but that others were duplicative.

According to his daughter, Gentzler was visiting a friend at the apartment complex.

He had just celebrated a birthday, daughter Caillie Kea Gentzler said days after the shooting. “That same day was my grandmother’s anniversary of her passing.”

She said her father, from a young age, had gotten in trouble.

“They’re going to think this guy is a monster, but that’s not true,” she said. “He battled with addiction for two-thirds of his life. It’s hard for him, just as hard as it was for us seeing him in prison.”

“So much of his life was spent behind bars that outside, he didn’t know how to be,” she said. “I don’t like the way the system is. If the goal is to rehabilitate, you’re not supposed to let him out early. There should be no rewards for these kinds of people.”

She lamented she will never see her father again and that her daughter will never see her “papa” again.