There Was An Alleged Homicide On The North Shore Today

Two years ago, we reported on a murder that happened just down the street from Stab‘s rental property on Oahu’s North Shore during the Triple Crown. 

Today, it seems something similar has occurred. 

An ex-Stab employee tipped us off to a situation unfolding on the North Shore Community Hub Facebook page, under a post titled, simply: “Murder Pupukea today [wide-eyed emoji].” 

Beneath the post, concerned North Shore citizens pleaded for further info, and it slowly trickled in. 

Please keep in mind that the following is essentially chatroom gossip and, while locally sourced, should not be accepted as fact. But here’s the gist:

Multiple people commented that there was some sort of commotion on “first Alapia”, which is a residential road off of the Pupukea hill. When we saw this, we headed up the hill to investigate but couldn’t locate any ambulances, police, etc. 

On our way back down the hill, we checked the community page again and saw that somebody had linked an article from KTIV titled: “One man dead after potential assault on O’ahu’s North Shore.”

The article said that EMS responded to a situation near Three Tables Beach and found one man unresponsive. They then returned for a second patient but that man was gone by the time they arrived. 

After reading this, we headed to Three Tables Beach, which is known to surfers as “Rubber Duckies”, to see if we could glean any new information.  

All we found was a single band of caution tape along beach’s tree line. It was later revealed that this was likely a coincidence.

We then visited the nearby Foodland to see if passersby had heard anything about a murder in the area. Three attempts at soliciting strangers came up blank. 

We then re-checked the North Shore Community Hub and found further details alluding to the incident on Alapio (which is about a mile up the hill from Rubber Duckies). 

Multiple sources confirmed that there were as many as six cop cars and news crews at “the first house on the right on first Alapia.”

Rather than chasing any further, we returned home and kept an eye on local news reports. The first one we found came from KHON. They said: 

Honolulu police are investigating a homicide following an assault at Pupukea on the North Shore. Just before 5:00 p.m., police had cleared the scene, but earlier today they blocked off the entrance to that corner property. We are told investigators left because they needed to talk to more witnesses. 

Officials tell us at about 12:15 p.m., EMS responded to the scene for an apparent assault. They treated a 36-year-old man who was unresponsive. Officials say he was taken in critical condition to an area hospital. Around 1:00 p.m., EMS returned to the same location for a second patient, but that patient was no longer there. Neighbors say they heard sirens from the ambulance, but nothing else. Police have confirmed they are looking into a murder case.

The North Shore Community Hub believes that the alleged killer is still on the loose. 

Stay safe out there. 

UPDATE from Hawaii News Now: 

Honolulu police have arrested a suspect on Tuesday in connection with the death of a man in Pupukea.

Police records identified the suspect as 39-year-old Joseph Po’oloa.

The victim, a 36-year-old man, was found unresponsive just after noon. 

Sources say the victim suffered injuries consistent with a beating and was taken to the hospital, where he died. 

Po’oloa was arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder. 

The investigation is ongoing.

We’ve just checked, and there is a Joseph Po’oloa who is a member of the North Shore Community Hub, but we won’t post his photo in case it’s a different person of the same name.