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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Kailua shooting suspect nabbed in minutes, police affidavit says


By David Waite
Advertiser Staff Writer

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

Solomon Sydney Silva

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A man suspected of shooting another man several times Saturday morning in Kailua was arrested minutes later, thanks to cooperation between witnesses and an off-duty police officer, according to a police statement filed in District Court.

Solomon Sydney Silva, 45, of Waimānalo was arrested on suspicion of two counts of attempted murder after allegedly shooting David Pedro several times near the intersection of Kihapai and Wailepo streets at about 11:30 a.m. and shooting at a second man, Coety Haili, who was not injured.

Silva was charged Monday with two counts of attempted second-degree murder, one count of attempted first-degree murder, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, being a felon in possession of a firearm and failure to properly store a firearm.

His bail was set at $250,000 following an initial appearance in court yesterday morning.

A preliminary hearing in the case has been scheduled for today in District Court, unless Silva is indicted beforehand by an O'ahu grand jury.

In an affidavit filed in District Court, police officer Zane Hamrick said he was assigned to investigate a "shots-fired" case in Kailua and drove to the scene, where he saw Haili running from a group of men "who appeared intent on causing him harm."

Hamrick said he was monitoring the crowd a few minutes later when an off-duty police officer told him the shooter might have gone into an apartment at 707 Wailepo Place.

The off-duty officer said her mother had witnessed the shooting. A few seconds later, the off-duty officer told Hamrick that the suspect was standing in front of a car that had its hood up.

"At approximately (11:40 a.m.), I approached Silva and confronted him at the vehicle," Hamrick said in the affidavit. "I identified myself, then informed him he had been identified as the suspect in a shooting. I informed Silva that he was being detained as a suspect while the investigation continued."

Hamrick, in his affidavit , described Silva as calm, soft-spoken and cooperative, and said Silva told him "not to worry because he wasn't going to run anywhere."

Although city paramedics had been sent to the scene, they could not find a gunshot victim.

But Hamrick said in the affidavit that another officer called him from the Castle Medical Center emergency room where Pedro was being treated for gunshot wounds.

Pedro was eventually taken from Castle to The Queen's Medical Center where his condition was listed as stable upon arrival.

Pedro's father-in-law, Samuel Dilliner, who was with Pedro in the Castle emergency room, told the police officer who had been sent there that he saw Silva shoot Pedro, according to Hamrick's affidavit.

In addition, Haili also identified Silva as the one who had fired numerous shots at him as he ran around a parked truck on Wailepo Place, Hamrick said in the affidavit.

The officer said he arrested Silva at 12:20 p.m.

Police say they believe a fight on Friday night led to the shooting the following day. The fight started with yelling over an SUV that was "burning rubber" in the intersection of Kihapai and Wailepo, police said.

They said two men ended up fighting and that one of them returned to the scene Saturday morning — ostensibly to make amends.

But that turned into a second fight between as many as four men and Pedro being shot, police said.

State court records show that Silva pleaded no contest in January 1997 to one count each of first-degree assault, assault upon a law enforcement officer and resisting arrest. He was sentenced to five years' probation on the first-degree assault count and one year probation on each of the other two counts. He was also ordered to serve 45 days in jail.

He was discharged from the state judicial system in April 2002 after complying with the terms of probation, court records show.