The 49-year-old Waiawa Correctional Facility lieutenant charged with firing a pistol and a shotgun in Pearl City last week, nearly hitting children playing nearby, says he was "testing his friend’s gun" by shooting at the ground and at chickens in his backyard, according to police affidavits filed in Circuit Court.
Damon Pavao, a watch commander at the minimum-security facility, pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree reckless endangering, promotion of a dangerous drug and possession of drug paraphernalia Thursday during arraignment in Circuit Court. He is free after posting $25,000 bail.
Circuit Judge Richard Perkins set his trial date for the week of June 4 before Circuit Judge Randal Lee.
Pavao told police after he was taken into custody at his 1858 Waimano Home Road home that he had fired a Remington model 870 shotgun three or four times just before 6:30 p.m. March 28.
Pavao, according to a police affidavit, said he was approached by a neighbor who showed him a Glock 17 semiautomatic pistol and suggested they try it out. Pavao loaded the Glock and admitted to firing it several times in the back of the carport in the direction of a neighbor’s home at the top of the roadway, the affidavit said.
Pavao told police he was unaware that he had fired so many rounds until it was pointed out that 29 spent 9 mm casings had been recovered. "He (Pavao) admitted that it was an error in judgment on his part to have fired so many rounds in a residential area," an affidavit said.
A witness told police that two young children were playing nearby when bullets struck the dirt a few feet away, according to documents.
Several police officers said Pavao told them at the scene that he was "testing" his friend’s gun.
A neighbor told police that he and Pavao were drinking together and that Pavao was "shooting his guns at the floor and the chickens in the area," court documents said.
Besides the shotgun, police said, Pavao is the registered owner of a 9 mm Stallard model JS pistol, a Smith and Wesson .38-caliber 67-1 revolver and a .22-caliber Marlin model 60 rifle. A specialist with the Honolulu Police Department’s scientific investigation section determined the Stallard pistol was not fired during the incident, documents said.
Pavao reported the Marlin rifle was stolen in 2002, documents said.
During a search of Pavao’s home, police found a glass pipe in his bedroom which had a substance that a police criminalist determined to contain methamphetamine, according to documents.
Pavao told police that the glass pipe belonged to a woman he met at a club four years ago who had brought back to his home, documents said.
"He stated that he had intended to dispose of it but never got around to it," one of the arresting officers said in an affidavit.
According to documents, one of the police officers who arrived at Pavao’s home to investigate reports of gunshots saw Pavao, wearing red shorts and a white tank top, and another man. The officer said Pavao was holding a black semiautomatic pistol and was reloading with it another magazine. When the officer told Pavao to drop the weapon, he walked into a covered carport.
Another police officer finally was able to contact Pavao by cellphone at 7:25 p.m. and talked him into surrendering.
Police closed Komo Mai Drive, the only access to Pacific Palisades, for two hours while they negotiated with Pavao on the night of March 28 and searched the area.
Pavao has been with the Department of Public Safety since 1998, Director Jodie Maesaka-Hirata said in an interview earlier this week. He was promoted to sergeant in 2003 and elevated to lieutenant last year.
She said Pavao is considered "a reliable individual" and is responsible for overseeing the adult correctional officers at Waiawa. He was placed on unpaid leave pending an internal investigation.
