Honolulu police officers shot and killed a 50-year-old man outside Queen’s Medical Center after he pointed a gun at them Thursday morning, according to Honolulu police Interim Chief Rade Vanic.
Minutes before the shooting, police received a call from someone telling them there was a man outside the hospital who was expressing suicidal thoughts and had a firearm, Vanic told reporters during a press conference Thursday afternoon.
Two officers approached the man at around 10:20 a.m. as he stood on the sidewalk near the intersection of Punchbowl and South Beretania streets. As the officers got closer, the man, who was not identified, reached into his waistband and pulled out a handgun, Vanic said.
Honolulu police officers shot and killed a 50-year-old man outside Queen’s Medical Center on Thursday after he pointed a handgun at them, according to police. (Madeleine Valera/2025/Civil Beat)
The officers fired multiple times, Vanic said. The man was taken inside the hospital for treatment and pronounced dead.
Police closed all lanes of Punchbowl Street between South Beretania Street and South Vineyard Boulevard until 1 p.m.
The man had four criminal convictions on his record, including one for felony assault on a law enforcement officer, Vanic said.
His identity is being withheld pending notification of his next of kin by the Honolulu Medical Examiner’s Office.
HPD Interim Chief Rade Vanic said it appears the officers “followed their training” during the incident. (Madeleine Valera/2025/Civil Beat)
Vanic said the gun he used had a serial number but was not registered.
The two officers involved have both been with HPD for five years.
Vanic said he believes the officers followed protocol for responding to an armed person.
“I commend them for doing what’s needed to keep not only themselves safe but the public safe,” he said.
There is body camera footage as well as surveillance footage of the incident, he said. Vanic said the department will release it, but he did not say when.
This is the second fatal police shooting on Oʻahu so far this year.
Officers shot and killed 37-year-old Christian Latimore at Keʻehi Boat Harbor on June 22 after witnesses reported he was firing a gun at people on another boat. Latimore barricaded himself inside a boat armed with a hammer, a long gun and a sword. Officers shot him after he came out of the hatch and pointed a shotgun at them.
Officers shot and injured another man June 24 in Mākaha after he rammed an unmarked police vehicle that had been following him, causing it to catch fire.
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