HONOLULU — Honolulu police officers killed a man they believed was armed during a struggle in a car after they identified him as fugitive, an official said.
Dallas Pearce, 33, was shot around 3 p.m. Monday in Kailua, Honolulu Police Department Deputy Chief John McCarthy told reporters Tuesday.
Pearce was considered an escaped inmate because he did not return to Laumaka Work Furlough Center, which he left on a day pass while serving a sentence for burglary in November, according to a police statement.
Pearce had three felony convictions for burglary and drug charges, McCarthy said.
Two officers spotted Pearce and parked behind the vehicle he was riding in, McCarthy said.
A witness said a woman in the driver’s seat left the car after it was stopped, but the man in the passenger’s seat appeared to refuse orders to leave.
A woman came out of a nearby apartment and began interfering with the officers, who shouted commands for Pearce “to give himself up” and for the woman to stop screaming, McCarthy said.
“Officers observed him to be in possession of what they thought was a gun and a struggle ensued shortly thereafter,” McCarthy said.
“The officers continued to the point where out of fear for their own safety and the concerns of the safety of others they fired multiple shots at Pearce,” McCarthy said.
Four to five shots were fired during the struggle, McCarthy said, but he would not say where Pearce was shot.
Pearce died after he was transport to a nearby hospital, McCarthy said.
The two officers were not injured.
Asked if Pearce had an airsoft gun, which fires plastic pellets, McCarthy said police are still investigating what type of gun he had.
“If it was an airsoft, sometimes we’ve seen them modified so that they can actually fire real bullets and sometimes even flares,” McCarthy said.
