Hawaii Killings: Suspect Was 'Out Of Control,' Unstable Well Before Shooting 2 Police Officers, Starting Fire

Authorities continue to investigate a mentally unstable man after he allegedly stabbed a woman and killed two police officers outside his home in Honolulu, Hawaii, over the weekend before starting a fire that spread to the surrounding neighborhood.

The incident unfolded Sunday when the Honolulu Police Department was called about a woman who had been attacked at the home of 69-year-old Jaroslav Hanel. The woman, who was a tenant in the same house, had reportedly been stabbed with a garden tool by Hanel before officers arrived. Three officers responded to the call but were allegedly ambushed by Hanel as they were walking down the house’s driveway.

A gunfight reportedly erupted outside the house as more officers rushed to the scene to provide assistance. Officers Tiffany Enriquez and Kaulike Kalama suffered fatal wounds during the exchange.

Hanel fled into the house, where he reportedly set his room ablaze. While firefighters were called, small explosions were reportedly heard inside the house matching ammunition pops.

“There were what sounded like rounds going off,” Honolulu Police Chief Susan Ballard said during a press conference. “We can’t put other public safety and our fire department in jeopardy because if someone would have gotten hit by one of those stray rounds, I wouldn’t have been able to sleep at night.”

It reportedly took an hour for police to give firefighters the all-clear to begin fighting the fire. During this time, the fire quickly spread and engulfed at least six other homes.

After the fire was contained, investigators reportedly found the remains of a man and woman at the scene. Medical examiners were working to identify the remains, but the man is believed to be Hanel while the woman is suspected to be Hanel’s landlord, Lois Cain. Investigators believe Hanel killed Cain before stabbing the woman outside the house.

Another woman remains unaccounted for that reportedly lived at the house as well.

Cain had reportedly allowed Hanel to live at the house for free in exchange for work. However, she reportedly went to evict him Sunday morning because she was reportedly moving back to Hawaii and had received multiple complaints over Hanel’s behavior since he started living there. Hanel’s attorney, Jonathan Burge, said Cain had previously backed up Hanel against these complaints that had resulted in some neighbors filing temporary restraining orders.

“It was pretty clear he was out of control,” attorney David Hayakawa told reporters.

Hayakawa represented at least three neighbors that had filed restraining orders in the past. They had complained Hanel hid in their bushes, chased cars, confronted people who came by the house, recorded people with a camera in his hat, and sent smoke from a barbeque into their windows.

He also had confrontations with police in the past, including one in 2019 involving one of the officers killed in the shootout Sunday. Police sent Hanel to get a mental health evaluation, where he was determined to be mentally unstable.

Burge echoed the prognosis, telling reporters Hanel “was paranoid” and he “thought the government was watching him.” However, he insisted Hanel did not have a history of “extreme violence” and didn’t know how he got his hands on the guns.

“He should not have had a gun,” Burge said. “He had an active restraining order against him from some of the neighbors. I don't know how he got the gun.”

The guns also reportedly belong to Cain’s late husband, Raymond Cain, who died in 2005. He reportedly had a “large” number of registered guns when he died that Cain held onto. Hanel had gotten access to the guns and reportedly attempted to get a storage unit to store the guns.

“He was asking me, he wanted to store guns and I told him we don’t store guns here so that’s when his attitude started to change,” Safekeeper Storage owner Chris Ulu told Hawaii News Now.

Despite the numerous guns, police have not found the weapon used to shoot and kill Officers Kalama and Enriquez.

As police continue their investigation, the island state remains shaken by the violence that erupted Sunday.

“They were like my kids,” Ballard said when speaking about Kalama and Enriquez. “I know each one of them very personally.”

Burge, a former police officer, offered his condolences as well.

“I was an officer for nearly 10 years and whenever an officer is hurt or killed it still affects me. It is very sad to me,” Burge said. “I feel a lot of sorrow for the police and the neighbors. If he did what they said he did I have no sorrow for him. It’s terrible. I’m in a lot of shock myself.”

Hawaii Gov. David Ige also spoke about the incident Sunday.