Man accused of shooting at officers pleads not guilty
A 32-year-old man who has 22 convictions on record is in police custody after he flipped his car in Kahala on Thursday night. The suspect fired at police officers who were trying to arrest him for outstanding warrants.
| This story has been corrected. See below. |
A 32-year-old convicted felon, suspected of being a member of a weapons trafficking gang, entered a not guilty plea on Monday to charges that he attempted to kill three police officers who were trying to arrest him in Kahala last month.
Nicolas Peter Nakano is being held at the Oahu Community Corrections Center in lieu of a $1 million bail.
An Oahu grand jury indicted Nakano on Jan. 29 on four counts of first-degree attempted murder, using a firearm to commit the crimes, two firearm possession charges and drug possession.
After his brief Circuit Court appearance via a closed circuit video conference call from OCCC, Judge Richard Perkins set the week of April 14 as his trial date.
On Jan. 23, Nakano tried to elude a pursing police officer and rammed another car in Kahala, causing his own car to flip onto its roof.
Nakano then fled on foot.
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Police officers caught up to Nakano near the Waialae Country Club golf course. During the struggle, Nakano fired a shot from a semi-automatic pistol at the officer’s head, police said. He allegedly tried two more times to shoot two other officers, but the handgun misfired.
The grand jury charged Nakano with one count of attempted murder for each of the three officers and one count for attempting to kill all three. The drug possession charge stems from the discovery of a bag containing an eighth of an ounce of methamphetamine.
Since then police and federal law enforcement officials have raided several homes in Kailua believed to be associated with Nakano. At least seven arrests have been made.
The parole board on Dec. 5 issued a warrant for Nakano’s arrest for possessing or using marijuana and methamphetamine, not telling his parole officer his location and moving residences without authorization. Nakano was on parole for auto theft, a car break-in, credit card theft, identity theft and unauthorized possession of another person’s personal, confidential information.
Nakano has 13 other felony convictions for theft, burglary, robbery and kidnapping, beginning in 2003.
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CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story misspelled the given name of the 32-year-old convicted felon. His name is Nicolas, not Nickolas.
