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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Monday, March 26, 2007

Makaha shooting suspect released; 3 others sought

By Rod Ohira
Advertiser Staff Writer

A 55-year-old man arrested for questioning about a fatal shooting Saturday was released last night pending further investigation while police tried to piece together details of the shootout at his Makaha home.

Keith K. Kuraoka, who was booked at 7:30 a.m. Saturday on suspicion of second-degree murder and first-degree terroristic threatening, was released last night at 6 p.m. from the Honolulu Police Department's central receiving cellblock.

The 6:30 a.m. Saturday shooting at his home left one man dead. Police are looking for three other men who had gone to Kuraoka's Mai'u'u Road residence apparently with the intent to rob him at gunpoint.

A neighbor told police she heard four or five gunshots, then saw the men, one with a gun, running away from the house before driving away in a tan, four-door sedan.

The Honolulu Medical Examiner's Office declined yesterday to release the name of the shooting victim until his identity is confirmed and next of kin is notified. However, the man found lying in a pool of blood at the far end of a gravel drive with a gunshot wound to the chest has been tentatively identified by police as Jason H. Sylva, 28.

Court records show he had multiple convictions, including assault and theft.

Police found a shotgun outside Kuraoka's home. Police later seized a rifle after obtaining a warrant and searching the house.

Acting on the advice of his attorney, Kuraoka declined to give any statements to police after his arrest. But Kuraoka told police at the scene that he acted in self-defense.

"No one's saying anything, and it would be speculation at this point to say what they were doing there," said Lt. Bill Kato, head of Honolulu police homicide investigations.

It had earlier been reported that a cockfight ring operated at Kuraoka's address, and the men who confronted him were after proceeds from cockfight gambling.

There was no cockfighting going on at Kuraoka's property when the shooting occurred, Kato said.

Reach Rod Ohira at rohira@honoluluadvertiser.com.