Prosecutors have attributed two deadly shootings on Oʻahu’s Westside in 2023 as well as another in May — the result of a botched murder-for-hire plot — to a gang called the “Shark Boys.”

Police, community members and crime victims have speculated in the last year that at least some of the shootings on the Westside were related to gangs, but this is the first instance of multiple killings being directly linked to one group.

“The gang is known in the Mākaha community for robbing people, mobbing people, fighting, and prior shootings,” Deputy Honolulu Prosecutor Kyle Mesa wrote in a court memo on July 24 opposing the release of suspects in the May shooting.

The Shark Boys also go by SB or the “Mākaha Sharks” and were formerly known as “Brothers by Heart” or BBH. The gang has about 20 to 40 members, most of them from Mākaha, between 19 and 22 years old, according to prosecutors.

A suspect in a September 2023 shooting at the Waiʻanae Boat Harbor is said to be part of the Shark Boys gang. Another suspect in a May 2023 shootout — who prosecutors believe instigated the shooting in May of this year — is also allegedly a member. The three shootings have left four people dead and at least six injured. 

The allegations come amid heightened concern about gang violence on Oʻahu.

In court documents, prosecutors attributed a shooting last year involving a 20-year-old at the Kūhiō Park Terrace housing complex in Kalihi to “escalating gang behavior.” Three inmates in Hālawa who are members of the prison gang Murder Inc. are currently standing trial for the 2023 killing of fellow inmate Chris Vaefaga.

Murder Inc. is said to be connected to another Waiʻanae gang known as West Side, which at one point ran cockfights and game rooms. West Side leader Edward Caspino, 47, was sentenced to 14 years in federal prison earlier this year on drug and cockfighting charges. His accomplices charged in that case ranged in age from 31 to 80. 

Witnesses at a deadly shooting at a cockfight in 2023 said the two shooters, ages 16 and 23 at the time, were affiliated with Caspino and his gang, according to court records.

Despite concerns over gang violence, Oʻahu has seen a significant decrease in violent crime rates in recent years. But murder has been on the rise. Community members have said that conflicts that at one time would have been resolved with fists now conclude at the end of a barrel.

Enforcement, Tracking Has Lagged

Not enough is being done to track the scope of Oʻahu’s gang problem, according to Meda Chesney-Lind, a criminologist and retired University of Hawaiʻi professor who co-authored reports evaluating the state’s youth gang response in the 1990s and 2000s

Gang membership peaked around 1996, when there were about 192 gangs with a combined 1,900 members. A statewide gang-tracking database was phased out in 2000.

But estimates put the number of gang members in 2002 at about 736 members, according to a University of Hawaiʻi report.

That study from 20 years ago was the last in-depth statewide assessment of youth gangs in Hawaiʻi.

Since then, local law enforcement agencies haven’t kept track of gang membership and statistics, gang task forces and units have largely been disbanded, and funding for gang enforcement and intervention has slowed, Chesney-Lind said.

The Honolulu Police Department didn’t respond to an inquiry regarding gang enforcement efforts.

The state once allocated $1.8 million annually to aid police departments with gang prevention and to fund community-based intervention and outreach programs. Now, Hawaiʻi currently allocates about $385,000 to violence intervention programs that service 90 at-risk youth across the state, according to a report to lawmakers.

Chesney-Lind said it’s frustrating to see the state pull back on its gang response programs of the early 2000s.

“Essentially, we’ve had a gang problem for the last 10 years and we just haven’t talked about it,” she said.

2023 Murder Suspect Tied To Mākaha Shooting

Court documents shed little light on broader gang activities across Oʻahu but provide new details about the May shooting. Here’s the narrative prosecutors and police have laid out:

Branston Medeiros, an 18-year-old alleged gang member, learned earlier this year that his then-girlfriend started seeing another man, Talan Dekneef-Perez, 19. Medeiros, already facing charges in the 2023 killing of a 17-year-old, offered other Shark Boys money to kill him.

Gang members started threatening Dekneef-Perez on social media and through calls and texts around March. They challenged him to fights and threatened to “pull up” on him, prosecutor Mesa wrote. During one encounter at a 7-Eleven in Mākaha, one gang member told Dekneef-Perez to “be safe on these streets” — in other words, watch your back.

Then, at about 9 p.m. on May 28, Shark Boys members ran out of a black Honda sedan to a house on Lahaina Street where Dekneef-Perez and his friends were hanging out. The gang members yelled “SB” and “Ready to die boys?”

An ensuing shootout left a 19-year-old dead and four others, including Dekneef-Perez, injured.

Police later found a Glock handgun and a Zigana PX-9 pistol, weapons they believe were fired at the crime scene, at the home of Olsen Burrows-Fonoimoana, one of the shooting suspects. Officers also found 89 rounds of ammunition, laser attachments and high-capacity magazines. Burrows-Fonoimoana also allegedly ditched a loaded FMK brand pistol on a reef as he tried to run from police.

Police have so far arrested and charged Burrows-Fonoimoana, 20, Styren Stevens, 19, Matthew Moon, 21, and Jasper Solberg, 17, in connection with the shooting. A family court judge on Aug. 1 cleared the way for Solberg to be charged as an adult.

They face numerous felony charges, including murder and firearms offenses. They have all pleaded not guilty and their defense attorneys declined to comment on the case, including about the gang allegations. Trials are set to begin in April. A fifth male suspect who was there that night has not yet been identified.

There’s no minimum age at which a youth accused of murder or attempted murder can be charged as an adult in Hawaiʻi. But it very rarely happens in this state. Fewer than half a dozen youth are charged as adults each year, according to the most recent publicly available data.

Solberg’s father, Jesse Solberg, doesn’t believe his son Jasper is in a gang and also disputes allegations that he was involved in the shooting.

“He hunts, he goes to the beach, he’s not involved in any of that crap,” he told Civil Beat in an interview at the Honolulu District courthouse. He said his son has a clean record. “How do you go from being a good kid to a shootout in Mākaha?”

Jesse Solberg said Jasper called him around the time of the shooting and he believed his son was hunting because he could hear the rustling of bushes and dogs barking in the background.

“They got the wrong kid,” he said.

Like Solberg, Medeiros, who police believe paid for the attempted murder of Dekneef-Perez in May, was a teen when he was charged for the 2023 shooting death of 17-year-old Miguel Agoo Jr. Medeiros was 16 at the time.

Agoo was also armed that night in May 2023. And although witnesses had conflicting accounts of who shot first, they said that the two had talked about rival gangs earlier in the night. Medeiros has pleaded not guilty to murder charges and claimed self-defense in court records.

Neal Kugiya, Medeiros’ lawyer, declined to comment on the gang and murder-for-hire allegations that recently surfaced in the Lahaina Street shooting case.

Another twist in Medeiros’ court saga came in December when prosecutors and the defense asked Circuit Court Judge Catherine Remigio to recuse herself. A local law firm had reported a verbal threat made by a potential client against Remigio. Police determined that the threat might have been related to the Medeiros case, according to the recusal order.

“The court determined that continuing to preside over this matter could be perceived as improper, would cause an unnecessary distraction, and would require extra security measures to be taken,” the judge wrote.

Medeiros’ trial is set to begin in October, but the court has scheduled a hearing for a change of plea on Monday.

Civil Beat reporter Caitlin Thompson contributed to this story.