Shooting of teen girl in Maili raises concern about violence
Jun. 19—A shooting that injured a 17-year-old girl following a Saturday night gathering in Maili on Oahu's west side has further stoked concerns among community members there about the frequency and severity of violent crime.
A shooting that injured a 17-year-old girl following a Saturday night gathering in Maili on Oahu's west side has further stoked concerns among community members there about the frequency and severity of violent crime.
Police have opened a first-degree attempted murder investigation into the attack, which closely follows the killing of a 17-year-old boy in the parking lot of Makaha Beach park last month.
Friends and family members identified the teen as Richianna Deguzman in Facebook posts, praising the girl's strength and seeking prayers for her recovery. One post showed a picture of her in a hospital bed with an apparent head injury. The family was not immediately able to respond to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser's request for an interview.
Honolulu police said they determined during an initial investigation that the teen and three adults were hanging out near Maili Community Park in Waianae at about 11 :08 p.m. when a group of males exited a gray SUV. Police said a male from the group was "observed to shoot at the victim's group, striking the juvenile victim."
Police said the SUV was driven away in an unknown direction.
Paramedics first responded to the shooting at the intersection of Maliona and Kulaaupuni streets near the community park. The teen was treated and taken to a trauma hospital in critical condition, according to a Honolulu Emergency Medical Services report.
Police said they have not made any arrests, and the investigation is ongoing. No other details were immediately available.
Saturday's shooting follows the May 21 shooting death of 17-year-old Miguel Agoo Jr. in the parking lot at Makaha Beach.
In that case, an Oahu grand jury indicted 20-year-old Waylen K. Armstrong-Kea on charges of second-
degree murder and felony firearms offenses. A 16-year-old boy also was charged with second-degree murder and firearms offenses. Petitions were filed in Family Court seeking to charge him as an adult.
Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney Steve Alm recently joined HPD officials to crime on Oahu's west side at a May 31 town hall meeting hosted by Honolulu City Council member Andria Tupola at the Kamehameha Schools Community Learning Center in Maili.
Waianae Coast Neighborhood Board Chairperson Sharlette Poe said she was unable to attend the town hall meeting, but said other board members relayed that it focused on identifying the overarching causal factors for crime as well as evaluating various enforcement, prosecution and judicial approaches.
Poe said the neighborhood board is concerned overall with violent crime, and while she pins a lot of it on the ease of obtaining guns, she said it's also the choices that people make and the influences on them.
"At the base of it, community values and consciousness needs to come back a lot more. If you care about your neighborhood and your neighbors more, you don't do the things that are happening now, " she said. "Any violent crime that comes back-to-back is unacceptable and tragic."
Poe said the Waianae Coast is requesting more police presence, as are other areas of Oahu.
"We have a plethora of challenges and hard times make people desperate. I don't know the social, emotional influences that are spiking these youth shootings, " she said. "These violent tendencies that they are exhibiting at younger ages—that should be a concern. Are we seeing increasing gang actives ? Is it influences of social media ? It would be a big help to figure out why there is this rise in violent youth activities."
Poe added that violent crimes overall, not just involving youth, "are a major concern for us because they are increasing in frequency as well as severity."
