HONOLULU — Honolulu Police Department Chief Arthur “Joe” Logan said Tuesday that no decision has been made on whether to charge a 42-year-old Waianae man who fatally shot his neighbor after the 58-year-old man rammed a home with a fuel-laden front loader and shot five people, killing three, late Saturday night.
The 42-year-old was arrested at 12:15 a.m. Sunday at 85-1373 Waianae Valley Road and “released pending further investigation” at 7:55 p.m. Sunday, according to Honolulu Police Department booking records. The man allegedly used a handgun to shoot and kill Hiram James Silva Sr.
Silva’s son, Hiram Jr., declined comment Tuesday on behalf of the family.
Logan, speaking to reporters at the department’s Alapai Street headquarters, said the investigation is ongoing into Saturday’s shooting at the Keamo family home that killed three women, ages 36, 34 and 29, and critically injured a 31-year-old man and 52-year-old woman.
The city Department of the Medical Examiner on Tuesday did not release the identities of the victims or the cause or manner of their death.
Responding to questions about why the man who stopped his neighbor’s deadly rampage was arrested, Logan spoke generally about self-defense, saying Hawaii is not a “stand-your-ground state.”
“Even if you have a license to carry, if you are an individual who discharges a firearm that is involved in injuring another person, you will more than likely, if not almost guaranteed, going to be arrested,” said Logan. “There will an investigation as to the facts and circumstances, and we will present that case to the prosecutor’s office. It’s just one of those things, doesn’t matter where the person was, you discharge a firearm … you’ve injured another person, you are going to be arrested.”
Hawaii Revised Statutes 703-304, on use of force for self-protection, says that the “use of deadly force is justifiable under this section if the actor believes that deadly force is necessary to protect himself against death, serious bodily injury, kidnapping, rape, or forcible sodomy.”
State Sen. Karl Rhoads, an attorney and chair of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser in an interview that the broad state law does allow a citizen to kill another if the conditions of the statute are met.
“Any time you kill somebody, there is going to be an investigation about what happened at that point,” Rhoads said.
The Honolulu Department of the Prosecuting Attorney told the Star-Advertiser in a statement that it “does not comment on matters that may be under investigation.”
“Decisions are always made on a case-by-case basis,” read the statement. “Decisions involving self-defense, defense of others, or defense of property are guided by Hawaii Revised Statutes 703-304 (Use of Force in Self-Protection), 703-305 (Use of Force for the Protection of Other Persons), and HRS 703-306 (Use of Force for the Protection of Property).”
HPD detectives and laboratory personnel are “working diligently” to interview witnesses, review and authenticate video surveillance, and test a “vast amount of evidence,” Logan said.
Anyone who has information about the fatal Waianae Valley Road shootings is asked to immediately contact HPD, Logan said.
A Keamo family representative told the Star-Advertiser on Monday that the violence started when the neighbors complained about cars speeding to and from a nearby commercial party site owned by Silva Sr.
Silva responded to the complaints by using a front loader to ram multiple cars into the Keamo home, where the family was also having a party, according to police.
People in the garage at the time tried to run away, but Silva, who did not have a permit to own a gun, opened fire with an unregistered long gun and a handgun.
The front loader contained four 55-gallon drums filled with an unknown fuel which Silva fired into, witnesses told police.
HPD had not responded this year to a call for service at the scene of the shootings, Logan said Tuesday.
Silva had three prior state convictions: two misdemeanors for violating a protective order in April 1998, and fraudulent use of a license plate in 1988, according to state court records.
Silva was a business owner who during his career owned and helped operate Silva Solutions, Silva Equipment Rental and Silva & Sons LLC, with other family members.
Silva & Sons was organized in 2020 but terminated in 2021, according to records kept by the Business Registration Division of the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs.
Silva Solutions LLC was incorporated in 2020, is in good standing and lists Silva Jr. as owner.
Silva Sr.’s property adjacent to the deadly shooting has racked up more than $500,000 in fines and inspections into 20 complaints.
They include allegations that Silva was doing illegal dumping of concrete, metal and other construction waste; operating an illegal trucking business; nonpermitted grading; impressible business rentals; and illegal commercial activity.
The Department of Planning and Permitting has not issued a conditional use permit or any other land use permit for that property, but has had extensive enforcement inspections and actions over the years at Silva’s property 85-1383-C Waianae Valley Road.
“Since 2001 we’ve received 20 requests for investigation, ranging from grading, grubbing, stockpiling complaints, to operating an illegal commercial trucking business on the agricultural land. We also investigated a complaint about an illegal tent on the property. We’ve issued five notices of violation; two (grading and large tent) remain open,” said Ian Scheuring, a spokesperson for Mayor Rick Blangiardi.
In 2013, DPP issued a notice of violation for grading without a permit. The violation was not corrected, and DPP issued a notice of order and assessed civil fines.
The violation remains open, and the fines totaled $587,250 as of Tuesday. In January 2015 the DPP placed a lien on the property.
“In March 2021 we received a complaint about an illegal structure on the property, which is the ‘dome.’ An inspection showed a large tent structure, which was not permitted. We issued (a notice of violation). Our inspectors said they repeatedly attempted to enter the property to re-inspect, but the owners did not respond to their requests,” Scheuring said. “However, the tent was still visible, and the inspector referred the matter to Code Compliance Branch for the issuance of (a notice of order).”
