Family members of three women fatally shot by a neighbor in Waiʻanae two years ago claim city officials failed to intervene in the neighbor’s dangerous and illegal behavior in the years leading up to the shooting, according to a wrongful death lawsuit filed Thursday. 

On Aug. 31, 2024, Hiram Silva drove a tractor into his neighbor’s home at the end of Waiʻanae Valley Road and opened fire, killing three women and injuring two other people. A resident of the home then shot and killed Silva, ending the attack. 

Residents of the home say they had for years complained to the city’s Department of Planning and Permitting and the Honolulu Police Department about an illegal structure on Silva’s property known as the “Silva Dome.” Silva used the dome as an unpermitted event space for parties, graduations and celebrations of life and even hosted a large concert in 2021 while the state was under Covid-19 restrictions. 

In their lawsuit, family members of the victims say the city could have prevented the shooting by cracking down on the violations sooner and preventing Silva from hosting his illicit parties. Immediately before the 2024 shooting, the family confronted Silva about a particularly raucous party at the dome, which allegedly enraged him.

The lawsuit also names Silva’s wife, Sandra Silva, as a defendant. Silva did not respond to a call seeking comment. 

Brandi Higa, spokeswoman for the City and County of Honolulu, said the city had not yet been served and declined to comment on the pending litigation. 

The lawsuit accuses Sandra Silva and the City and County of Honolulu of “negligence, wrongful death, nuisance, negligent supervision, and negligent failure to abate.”

Family members of the deceased seek to hold the city accountable for “both its inept and malicious actions and its purposeful failure to act in the face of clear, repeated, and urgent notice of the dangers,” the complaint says.

The family’s attorney, Michael Green, did not respond to a call seeking comment. 

‘Extraordinary Terror’ 

On the night of the shooting, Hiram Silva was hosting a graduation party in the Silva Dome that attracted nearly 200 people, then-Waiʻanae Coast Neighborhood Board Member Philip Ganaban told Civil Beat at the time.

At one point, party guests were speeding their cars up and down the narrow driveway at the end of Waiʻanae Valley Road that Silva shared with his neighbors, Alison and Rishard Keamo-Carnate. 

The Keamo-Carnates confronted Silva about the speeding, the lawsuit says. 

Later on, at around 11:15 p.m., Silva loaded two 55-gallon drums of gasoline into the front of a tractor and rammed it into the Keamo-Carnates’ home, police said. He then opened fire at family members and friends who were there for a family gathering, killing Courtney Raymond-Arakaki, 34; Jessyca Amasiu, 29; and Cherell Keamo, 36. He also shot and injured a 31-year-old man and a 52-year-old woman. 

During the rampage, Rishard Keamo-Carnate retrieved his own firearm from upstairs and fatally shot Silva. Keamo-Carnate was initially arrested on suspicion of murder in the second degree but was later released and never charged. 

“The surviving Plaintiffs endured a near-death experience of extraordinary terror and horror,” the complaint says. “They remain severely traumatized to this day.” 

The lawsuit speculates that the confrontation about speeding cars in the driveway enraged Hiram Silva and led to the shooting.

Complaint Alleges Neglect

For years, the Keamo-Carnates and others had complained about parties at the dome as well as Silva’s threatening behaviors. The lawsuit places direct blame on city officials and police for failing to act on those reports. 

One event that drew widespread complaints and a police response was a concert by the rapper Swae Lee hosted in the dome in March 2021. The event attracted more than 500 people, even as the state was under a Covid-19 lockdown, and social gatherings were limited to 10 people. 

At one point, a partygoer crashed into Alison Keamo-Carnate’s car, the lawsuit says. Police had already been called to the scene by neighbors but initially refused to take Alison Keamo-Carnate’s report. They also failed to administer a breathalyzer to the driver, the complaint says, and allowed the driver to leave with a friend.

“No citations or enforcement actions were taken against the drivers, the event venue, or the concert promoters, reflecting what Plaintiffs believe to be selective enforcement,” the complaint says. 

A Department of Planning and Permitting inspector visited the property on March 29, 2021, and Hiram Silva threateningly told the inspector that he had a firearm in his vehicle, the lawsuit says. The inspector issued a notice of violation instructing the Silvas to either get a permit for their tent or take it down by May 17, 2021, and left the scene. 

The city failed to follow up or enforce the violation notice, the lawsuit says. 

Dawn Takeuchi Apuna, director of the Honolulu Department of Planning and Permitting, previously told Civil Beat that an inspector drove by the property eight times after the violation notice was issued, but the property was always padlocked, and Silva wouldn’t respond. She said the department isn’t a police agency, and there isn’t much they can do besides issuing violations and fines. 

The activity at the dome raised alarms among city officials as well. 

On March 29, 2021, Honolulu City Council member Andria Tupola wrote to then-Honolulu Police Chief Susan Ballard about concerns at the property. Ballard responded that no promoter had been identified for the concert and no arrests had been made, but the case had been assigned to the “District 8 Misdemeanor Follow-Up Detail” for further investigation. She also said an investigation had been opened into a gathering size violation. 

“There is no record the City or HPD pursued any enforcement action,” the lawsuit says. 

On April 23, 2021, Alison Keamo-Carnate called Honolulu police to report that Hiram Silva was shining a spotlight directly onto her property. She also told police Silva yelled at her and six other family members that he was going to kill them all. She told police she feared for her safety because she knew Silva had firearms. Earlier that day, he had hosted another party at his dome with hundreds of guests, one of whom struck the Keamo-Carnates in their car as they were driving down the driveway. 

Officers responded that day and tried to approach Silva on his property, but he refused to open the gate, the lawsuit says, citing a police report about the incident. Silva was sarcastic with the officers, laughed repeatedly and refused to provide his social security number, instead rattling off numbers that appeared random. 

“After a considerable amount of time attempting to get Hiram to surrender, the officers determined there were no exigent circumstances to justify forced entry,” the lawsuit says. “Hiram was not arrested, and the officers left the scene.”

Had the city intervened sooner to shut the Silva Dome down, the shooting could have been prevented, the lawsuit says. 

“This horrific event was the direct result of years of governmental indifference and malevolence and the Silvas’ unchecked lawlessness,” the complaint says. 

The lawsuit seeks damages of at least $25,000.