Waianae Valley community shocked by fatal shooting during domestic dispute

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Residents of the peaceful Waianae Valley community near Kaupuni Park were shocked to hear about last night's domestic dispute that ended in a fatal shooting that left the gunman dead and three people hospitalized.

Neighbors identified the shooter as Alston Kaipo Awong.

Today, relatives at his home in Puhinalo Place declined interviews as they cleared out belongings.

Next door lives Pua Irvine and her family, who said Awong threatened them last night during his argument with his girlfriend – pointing a homemade rifle at her, but it did not fire, according to HPD.

They say Awong had a drug problem and it wasn't the first time he had threatened them. Irvine got a restraining order against him last year, but that didn't help.

During the shooting last night, children were playing in the street and a keiki soccer practice was taking place in Kaupuni Park behind the house.

Sam Akiona has lived in the area for 40 years. After hearing that Awong had shot his neighbors, he was relieved that the violence had not spread to other homes.

“My wife is a little scared because they come right into the house,” he said, adding that without the massive police intervention, things could have been even worse.

“They have a tough job. I mean, you have to give them credit,” he said.

Akiona says he has lost friends to gun violence and is worried there could be more shootings. He hopes HPD will address the root cause.

“The drugs are the main thing, and especially the weapons. But I don't know what's going on, but when I was growing up it was different,” he said.

In a press conference, HPD Chief Joe Logan said the 60-year-old suspect was arguing with his girlfriend outside her home when 911 was called around 6 p.m. Awong attacked a woman in her 70s, allegedly his girlfriend, and shot two women in their 30s and a 25-year-old man at the home of one of his girlfriend's relatives across the street. When police confronted him, Awong refused to put down his gun and “put another bullet in it,” after which an officer shot and killed him.

Logan said more community engagement will be needed to get illegal guns off the streets.

“We need to know where they are, where they are, and we need help getting that information. We need to get it, but we need the public's help. We can't just go into people's homes and say, 'Hey, you shouldn't have a gun. Let me check, that's not how the law works,'” Logan said.

“We need people in the community, who live in the community, who know what's going on, who know who is in their community who may be armed and may be doing dangerous things, to help the police do their job and help their community to make sure they don't become victims later on,” he added.

“You always hear bad things about Waianae, but we have a lot of good people here, a lot,” Akiona said. “Life is too short, that's all. Hopefully the young people can realize that life is very important.”

Copyright 2024 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.