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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Man shot down, witnesses say

 •  Search for suspects shakes N. Shore
Video: Kane'ohe shooting suspect arrested
 •  Gunshots 'went on and on and on,' witness says
Video: Shooting in Kane'ohe kicks off massive manhunt in Hale'iwa

By Dan Nakaso and Peter Boylan
Advertiser Staff Writers

Dried blood and bullet holes on Kane'ohe Bay Drive between Namoku Street and Moakaka Place mark the scene of Monday night's slaying of a 30-year-old man.

DEBORAH BOOKER | The Honolulu Advertiser

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TO HELP

Police are asking anyone with information about the case to call CrimeStoppers at 955-8300, or *CRIME on your cellular phone.

Free cellular calls are provided by Cingular, Nextel Hawaii, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless Hawaii.

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Jerrico Dewon Lindsey, 26, of 'Ewa Beach, was taken to the Honolulu Police Department's Wahiawa substation. Police say officers found Lindsey hitchhiking near Laniakea Beach.

KGMB-9

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Officers take William Lee Freeman, 35, of Honolulu, to the receiving area of police headquarters on South Beretania Street.

BRUCE ASATO | The Honolulu Advertiser

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KANE'OHE — The killing of an unarmed man in the middle of Kane'ohe Bay Drive led to a massive manhunt on the North Shore that left residents across O'ahu worried about the safety of their neighborhoods.

"I can't believe that I was driving around with a murderer out there," said Hale'iwa resident Carol Philips, who lives behind Jameson's By The Sea restaurant, where one of the suspects was caught.

Honolulu police had arrested and booked two men on suspicion of murder in the second degree by yesterday morning but were still looking for a third suspect last night.

William Lee Freeman, 35, of Honolulu, was arrested at 11:17 p.m. Monday in Hale'iwa, hiding near a home behind Jameson's. He told police that he lived on Kapi'olani Boulevard, but the address he provided does not exist.

Jerrico Dewon Lindsey, 26, of 'Ewa Beach, was arrested at about 8 a.m. yesterday near Laniakea Beach. He had injuries consistent with running through brush and was behaving suspiciously as he tried to flag down a ride into town, said Honolulu Police Sgt. Kim Buffett.

Witnesses in Kane'ohe reported hearing dozens of shots in rapid succession as the victim was shot repeatedly Monday night by a man dressed in black. Police identified the slain man as Fernando Correa-Lua, 30.

They said Correa-Lua was wearing only shorts and lying on his back as a gunman fired from a distance of 10 to 15 feet.

Law enforcement sources said Correa-Lua's body had more than 30 exit wounds and — as one source put it — was "riddled with bullets."

A witness in Hale'iwa said three men left behind a heavy bag containing what to him looked like a submachine gun and three pistols as they fled in a white, four-door Ford Crown Victoria. Tony Morlock, the caretaker for the residence behind Jameson's, picked up the bag and took it to police. Morlock said the weapons "were loaded and ready to go."

But Buffett, the police sergeant, insisted yesterday that police investigators recovered only a single handgun that was found inside a bag in the suspects' car.

"We've got all kind of reports, too," Buffett said. "But it's not an Uzi and it wasn't a MAC 10. ... Just one gun recovered and it's a handgun. There was one bag. One gun."

Buffett did not know the caliber of the gun yesterday or whether it was a revolver or a semi-automatic pistol.

'MAYBE 40, 50 SHOTS'

John Bower, 68, who said he saw the killing from his Kane'ohe sunroom Monday night, said that a man in long black pants and a long-sleeve, black shirt fired dozens of times in rapid succession.

"It was brrrrrrrrrr, brrrrrrrrrr, brrrrrrrrrr, brrrrrrrrrr," Bower said. "It wasn't a handgun. It wasn't a rifle. He was holding it in one hand, and it sounded like a machine gun. It was maybe 40 shots, 50 shots — lots."

The Honolulu medical examiner's office classified the case as a homicide and said the body had multiple gunshot wounds to the chest and abdomen.

The shooting started out as an argument between Correa-Lua and the three men at Correa-Lua's Kane'ohe residence sometime between 9:30 and 10 p.m., police said.

A female acquaintance, possibly the victim's girlfriend, was at the home at the time, Buffett said. The woman was distraught but was talking to investigators yesterday, Buffett said.

The men threw Correa-Lua into the trunk of the Crown Victoria and drove off. Correa-Lua kicked the trunk lid open on Kane'ohe Bay Drive near Moakaka Place, police said. He jumped out and tried to run away.

The driver stopped the car and a passenger in the back seat got out with a gun and began chasing the man around the car, police said.

RUNNING TO THE SCENE

Mark Kaai, 35, was sitting in his garage on Ne'emua Place when he heard what he thought were firecrackers.

He and other neighbors ran to the end of their street, where they saw a man in shorts running around a car on Kane'ohe Bay Drive. He was being chased by another man who began shooting, Kaai said.

The man in shorts tried to run away but stumbled and fell on his back, the neighbors said. The other man then stood near him and shot repeatedly, they said.

Kaai said the victim was left lying in the middle of the street as the armed man got into the back seat of a white Crown Victoria.

"He was lying down on his back and they (paramedics) started giving him CPR but he didn't move, nothing," Kaai said. "That kind of stuff doesn't happen around here."

George J. Kitazaki, 69, ran to his window when he heard the first burst of gunfire.

"We heard the shooting," Kitazaki said. "It was a bunch of shots then a pause, then rapid firing again. My wife told me to get away from the window and turn off the lights."

Kitazaki has lived in the neighborhood for more than 30 years and said, "We don't feel threatened because it could have happened anywhere. It just happened they cornered him out here."

The Crown Victoria fled on Kane'ohe Bay Drive toward Kane'ohe town, police said, triggering an islandwide manhunt.

At 10:26 p.m., the car was spotted getting gasoline at the 7-Eleven store in Ka'a'awa. Police finally stopped it around 11 p.m. in the parking lot of Jameson's and the three men inside fled.

FLEEING SUSPECTS

Morlock, who lives near Jameson's, said he spotted the suspects running through his yard.

"I heard some commotion outside, and it was getting louder and louder. I saw the three guys running up the walkway by the barn, and I shined my floodlight on them and yelled: 'Whoa, whoa, whoa!' and they just kept running," said Morlock, an employee of Private Security, who is head of security for the TV series "Lost."

"I was flashing my light on them and then toward the HPD to get their attention. The one they have in custody, he fell. They looked tired, like they wouldn't get far."

Morlock then picked up the bag and started walking toward police officers, who quickly had him lay on the ground as a precaution.

"I had a bag full of guns and the magazine of that one sticking out," he said. "I don't blame them."

After Freeman's arrest, a bus driver told police that another man tried to get on his bus but the driver closed the door.

Police armed with AR-15 assault rifles searched the North Shore door to door. Dogs, the HPD's helicopter and Specialized Services Division, as well as officers from surrounding districts, were called in to help.

At 8 a.m., officers responding to a tip spotted Lindsey hitchhiking near Laniakea Beach, police said. As officers approached him, he reportedly jumped into a car. Officers then stopped the vehicle and arrested Lindsey on suspicion of second-degree murder.

Advertiser staff writers Eloise Aguiar, Dave Dondoneau, Rod Ohira and David Waite and Advertiser photographer Deborah Booker contributed to this report.

Reach Dan Nakaso at dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com and Peter Boylan at pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com.

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Correction: Several words were inadvertently deleted from a previous version of this story headlined “Neighbors saw man gunned down in barrage of bullets.” The sentence should have read: He had injuries consistent with running through brush and was behaving suspiciously as he tried to flag down a ride into town, said Honolulu police Sgt. Kim Buffett. Also, Tony Morlock is an employee of Private Security, the company contracted by ABC’s “Lost” for security, said Charlie Long, owner of Private Security. A previous version of this story did not make that clear.