Police yesterday continued to search for a convicted felon wanted in connection with a stabbing early Wednesday morning that left an 18-year-old Kalihi man dead.

Police believe R.J. Ham knows something about the killing in the parking lot of 2215 North School St. at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday.

Ham is known to hang out in the Kalihi area and was convicted of second-degree assault in May 2006.

Police were trying to determine who fatally stabbed 18-year-old Fugitogamala Savea through the heart near the front gate of Kuhio Park Terrace in Kalihi.

Police said Savea was standing with friends in front of a mini-mart at the corner of Linapuni and North School streets when he was approached just after midnight by a man in his 20s.

The two began to argue, and the man in his 20s stabbed Savea once in the chest with a knife, police said.

Savea did not know the man, police said.

The attacker was described as having shoulder-length hair. He was wearing a baseball cap, white T-shirt and black shorts, police said.

Savea was taken to The Queen's Medical Center in critical condition and was pronounced dead at 1:16 a.m.

Anyone with information about Savea's stabbing is asked to call CrimeStoppers at 955-8300, or *CRIME on your cell phone (free cellular calls are provided by AT&T, Nextel Hawaii, T-Mobile, and Verizon Wireless Hawaii).

Reach Peter Boylan at pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com.

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