No charges will be filed against Honolulu police officers involved in the fatal shooting of an armed man in Waiʻanae last August.

An officer shot and killed 60-year-old Alston Awong at a residence on Puhinalo Place just after 6 p.m. on Aug. 14, 2024. Awong had already shot and injured three people inside the home and was turning toward the officer with the gun in his hand when he was shot.

The incident was one of three shootings over the span of 10 days last year on the Westside that sparked calls for more police resources to the area.

The officer who shot Awong was justified in using deadly force, according to Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney Steve Alm, who presented the findings of his investigation to reporters on Wednesday. Awong had attacked his girlfriend and threatened multiple neighbors before he was shot.

“He was threatening several people and shooting several other people,” Alm’s report says. “He ignored commands to drop his firearm and end this incident peacefully.”

‘He Shot Us’

Awong’s girlfriend, a 76-year-old woman who had lived with him for over five years, told investigators that at around 5 p.m. on the day of the shooting, Awong burst into her bedroom and started “viciously assaulting her,” Alm’s report says.

He punched her at least 10 times in the head and face, choked her and said she was “going to die.”

She escaped and ran into the street where multiple neighbors came out to help. Awong followed her into the street, where the confrontation escalated. He told the neighbors we was going to get his gun and would come back to “kill them all,” according to the report.

Awong went into his home and came back out with an AR-15 style rifle. He pointed it at a next-door neighbor’s house and threatened to kill the people inside. When Awong tried to fire the rifle, it didn’t work and unspent rounds fell onto the road around him.

A neighbor repeatedly told him to put the gun down and said, “It’s not worth it,” according to the report. In the meantime, Awong’s girlfriend sought refuge in a home across the street where her cousin lived with his family.

Awong retrieved another gun from his home, a Hi-Point brand handgun that had previously been reported stolen, and went to his girlfriend’s cousin’s house. Eight people were inside, including the man’s two grandchildren, ages 8 and 9.

Awong shot into the home from outside before walking up to a rear porch entrance. Family members inside had locked the glass door of the porch and tried to barricade it with furniture.

Awong shot through the glass door and shattered it. He continued to shoot at the people inside the home as they tried to take cover, according to the report. Three members of the family were injured: A 24-year-old man was shot in the chest, his 34-year-old sister was shot in the stomach and another relative, a 32-year-old woman, was shot in the elbow.

The 24-year-old grabbed a tree cutter and charged toward Awong to try to keep him at bay, the report says.

Just after 6:15 p.m., two Honolulu police officers arrived on scene.

The woman who had been shot in the elbow was hanging out of a window and yelled to one of the officers, “He’s in the house, he’s in the house. He shot us,” the report says. Body camera footage from the officers shows them running up to the house with their weapons drawn. Screams can be heard coming from inside.

One of the officers went around to the back patio, where Awong could be seen standing in the entrance holding a black handgun and pointing it toward the inside of the house. The video shows him pulling back the slide of the firearm and releasing it. This is usually done to eject a misfired round from a jammed gun and get it ready to shoot.

On the video, the officer yells, “Drop the gun!” but Awong does not comply and turns toward the officer.

The officer shoots Awong and again tells him to drop the gun. Awong continues to turn toward the officer, gun in hand, and the officer shoots him a second time.

Awong then falls to the ground and drops the gun, the video shows. The officer quickly picks it up and throws it on the ground outside.

According to Alm’s report, officers administered aid to the three gunshot victims and Awong until paramedics arrived. Awong was pronounced dead just after 7:20 p.m. His autopsy report showed he had two gunshot wounds to the chest.

The three injured people were taken to The Queen’s Medical Center for treatment.

Before the incident, Awong had a record of 11 felony convictions, including for terroristic threatening, second-degree assault and ownership of firearm by a convicted felon, according to Alm’s report.

Alm told reporters Wednesday that the incident appeared to be “suicide by cop.”

“Unfortunately,” he said, “this looks like another case of a perpetrator looking at law enforcement to end their lives.”

Westside Violence

The shooting was one of three that happened in the span of 10 days last August on the Westside.

A man was fatally shot at the Waiʻanae Boat Harbor on Aug. 6, 2024, and two teenagers were shot and injured in Waiʻanae on Aug. 15 of that year.

The shootings prompted city officials to promise to send more resources to the area, but the violence continued.

Over Labor Day weekend, a man drove a tractor into his neighbor’s home on Waiʻanae Valley Road and fatally shot three people before the homeowner shot and killed him.

At the time, former Honolulu Police Chief Joe Logan promised a “surge” in policing to the area but would not answer specific questions about what resources were being allocated and how. A Civil Beat review of court records found the number of traffic citations given on the Westside jumped after the additional police resources were promised.

Recent shootings on West Oʻahu have continued to spark concern, including a gang-related shooting in May that left a 19-year-old dead, and five non-fatal shootings over Fourth of July weekend.

Honolulu Police Interim Chief Rade Vanic recently announced an initiative to send 12 new recruits to the Westside police district in November after they finish a field training period in hopes to help quell the violence.