Two Honolulu police officers shot by a 44-year-old felon making his last stand after a daylong manhunt went home from the hospital this week.
“Our brave officers who were injured on New Year’s Day were released from the hospital this week and are continuing their recovery
at home,” read a statement posted on the Honolulu Police Department’s Instagram and X feeds Wednesday. “They and their families, along with the entire HPD ohana, would like to thank the public for its outpouring of Aloha and support.”
On New Year’s Day, shortly after 4 p.m., attempted murder suspect Sidney Tafokitau, who had 18 prior state convictions, was killed after he shot a Crime Reduction Unit officer with five years of experience with the department, and a patrol officer with two years on the job.
Both officers underwent surgery and were hospitalized for at least a week. HPD officers recovered an unregistered AR-15 rifle that Tafokitau used during a daylong chase and firefight.
Tafokitau was shot near University Avenue and Dole Street and taken to The Queen’s Medical Center where he died.
The chase ended on University Avenue when Tafokitau allegedly got out of a white Scion he carjacked on the Windward side and shot at officers, wounding two of them, before he was shot and killed by police.
The Jan. 1 pursuit began about eight hours earlier when Tafokitau allegedly shot his 39-year-old ex-
girlfriend on Moanalua
Freeway. She is expected
to survive.
Police chased after Tafokitau from town to the North Shore and back, with intermittent exchanges of gunfire.
An investigation into the chase and shooting by police and a separate inquiry by the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney are
ongoing.
Tafokitau was released
after posting $75,000 bail Dec. 1 after he was charged in November with six felony firearm offenses.
An Oahu circuit court judge granted an oral motion by his deputy public
defender to reduce his bail over the objection of the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney.
The Hawaii State Judiciary and the office of the public defender declined to comment on Tafokitau’s bail reduction.
