A Honolulu police officer shot a 22-year-old man in the thigh while responding to a domestic argument call in Hālawa Sunday night, Honolulu interim police chief Rade Vanic said at a Monday press conference. 

Police officers responded to the call at 10:22 p.m. The caller answered the door, and the suspect, who had been crouching outside, pushed into the kitchen and pulled out a knife. Though Vanic did not name the suspect, an arrest log identified him as Kaypee Palik, Jr.

“Officers gave verbal commands for him to drop the weapon, but he refused and advanced towards them,” Vanic said. 

An officer used his Taser on Palik, but Vanic said that was ineffective. A second officer then shot one round from her pistol and hit Palik in the thigh. Officers administered first aid and first responders brought Palik to The Queens Medical Center. He has since been released from the hospital and is in custody.

The officer who shot Palik has been with the department for seven years, Vanic said. Per departmental policy, she was offered administrative leave and peer support. The other officer who used his Taser has been with the department for just under one year and was also offered peer support. 

Body camera footage will be available after the department completes its standard criminal and administrative investigations, Vanic said, though he declined to estimate how long that would take. He said the city prosecutor’s office will do its own investigation because it was an officer-involved shooting.

Palik had punched his 16-year-old brother and 18-year-old sister before officers arrived, Vanic said, and his parents told officers there had been similar incidents in 2025 that they hadn’t reported. He was arrested on two counts of terroristic threatening in the first degree and two counts of abuse of a household member.

“The parents had told us there are possible issues with mental illness,” Vanic said, “but that’s part of our investigation so I cannot confirm yet.” He said Palik had never been arrested before. 

Despite this incident and another Sunday night in Kapolei in which two visiting workers were shot, one of whom is in critical condition, Vanic said Honolulu remains a safe place.

“When you look up our violent crime statistics compared to other places, or even compared to ourselves … violent crime is down,” he said.