Weapons violations and homicides on Oahu are up compared to the first quarter of last year while crime overall is down, Honolulu police Chief Arthur “Joe” Logan told the Honolulu Police Commission.
Eleven lives were lost to homicide this year through March, compared with four homicides during the same period a year ago. Twenty-two people died in 2023 in cases classified by authorities as murder.
There have been 195 weapons violations so far this year compared with 128 through March 2023.
A weapons violation doesn’t necessarily mean the use of a gun, Logan told commissioners, and can occur anytime a dangerous implement is used in a threatening fashion.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Incident-Based Reporting System, weapons violations are defined as the violation of “laws or ordinances prohibiting the manufacture, sale, purchase, transportation, possession, concealment, or use of firearms, cutting instruments, explosives, incendiary devices, or other deadly weapons.”
Logan told commissioners Wednesday that no one with a concealed carry weapons license has been cited. There are two instances where CCW holders may have misused their license but those cases are under investigation, Logan said.
“Honolulu is still the safe city that it is and our law enforcement officers are out there doing their due diligence everyday,” said Logan, who also thanked the department’s civilian employees for completing a team effort.
County and federal law enforcement officials repeatedly worry about unregistered firearms being made and used by criminals. Ghost guns, like the one used by a 44-year-old felon during a series of shootouts with police on New Year’s Day, are an “ongoing concern” for police, according to an HPD spokesperson.
Aside from weapons violations and homicides, crime in most categories is down compared to last year according to a check of HPD’s data dashboard, Logan said Wednesday.
The first homicide of the year was the New Year’s Day-long manhunt and firefights that ended with the officer-involved shooting of attempted murder suspect Sidney Tafokitau, 44, who had 18 prior state convictions.
A Crime Reduction Unit officer and a patrol officer were shot by Tafokitau with an unregistered AR-15 rifle before officers shot and killed him on University Avenue.
On Feb. 9, foster parents and the grandmother of 10-year-old Geanna Bradley Opens in a new tab were charged with murder about a month after the child’s body was found emaciated and bruised, with broken teeth, open sores and missing part of her nose.
Brandy Kanani Blas, 35; her husband, Thomas Adam Blas Sr., 40; and Debra D. Geron, 67, were arrested at 6:15 a.m. at their home at 33 Karsten Drive in Wahiawa and are in custody awaiting trial.
All three were arrested for second-degree murder, two counts of kidnapping and two counts of first-degree unlawful imprisonment. The Blases were charged with one count of endangering the welfare of a minor, and Brandy Blas and Geron were charged with one count of first-degree hindering prosecution.
Logan noted that aside from certain proactive measures, what spurs increases or reductions in homicides can be hard to police. Logan pointed out that the Manoa murders March 10 were the first homicide in that neighborhood in some time.
Early on that Sunday, 46-year-old Paris Oda stabbed his wife and three children to death with a kitchen knife before killing himself. Paris Oda told relatives he planned to kill his family to escape crushing debt.
Oda had not paid taxes in years and was behind on private school tuition, car and loan payments.
Logan lauded the department’s homicide detail for solving 100% of the killings that happened last year. He told commissioners Wednesday that officers assigned to the detail will get “very close if not the same” closure rate for homicides this year as detectives did last year.
“Any death is way too much … these are 11 people who can no longer go to their loved ones,” Logan said to the commissioners.
Commission Chair Doug Chin, a former deputy prosecuting attorney and state Attorney General, thanked Logan for using raw numbers to compare the homicide situation to last year’s numbers.
It illustrates that Oahu is not like comparable jurisdictions of similar size elsewhere, Chin said.
“We really do have a very low homicide rate in comparison to other cities,” Chin said.
The most recent high-profile incident involving weapons went down Wednesday.
At about 12:20 p.m. on that day, Jeremyal B. Leedy, 40, was arrested for suspicion of first-degree and second-degree attempted murder, use of a firearm in the commission of a separate felony, second-degree assault, and a firearms violation.
Leedy has 13 prior state convictions, including two felony firearm violations.
A little after 10 p.m. Tuesday, Leedy allegedly arrived at his ex-girlfriend’s apartment complex on Kaaha Street, where they argued. She asked him to leave but he refused.
A 60-year-old woman and a 57-year-old man intervened and told Leedy to leave and he allegedly threw something at them, according to a police report.
The 57-year-old man, armed with a bat, and the woman followed Leedy out of the building to ensure that he left. The man with the bat continued to argue with the suspect and swung the bat at Leedy to keep him away, police said.
The woman intervened, and then Leedy allegedly shoved her to the ground, injuring her.
The man then swung the bat at Leedy again, and Leedy allegedly pulled out a gun and shot the man in the abdomen, police said. Leedy allegedly used the man’s bat to strike him in the head multiple times, according to police.
He was charged Friday with one count of attempted murder in the first degree, two counts of attempted murder in the second degree, three counts of carrying or use of firearm in the commission of a separate felony, one count of ownership or possession prohibited felon, and one count of assaulting someone over the age of 60.
