Community leaders say suspect’s illegal party location may have sparked mass shooting in Waianae

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Community leaders in Waianae say this weekend’s mass shooting could have been prevented if the city had shut down an illegal party venue on killer Hiram Silva’s property.

Although the city denies any connection, many in the community say the illegal business was the flashpoint for the violence.

The large fabric Quonset hut, equipped with high-powered air conditioning and surrounded by manicured gardens, is so well known in the community that it has a nickname: “The Silva Dome.”

It has been rented out over the years for funerals, weddings, graduation parties and even concerts, all illegally.

Patty Kahanamoku Teruya was president of the Waianae Coast Neighborhood Council for 29 years until last year.

He said the issues around the Dome were frequent topics at board meetings, which are always attended by city and elected officials.

“I’ll be very honest: people knew about it and no one can see that they didn’t know what was going on because they probably rented that area for a party as well,” she said. “Neighbours kept raising concerns about the drinking, the racing back and forth, the late-night parties – they had to put up with it.”

The Quonset is on Silva’s property, off the narrow driveway, which passes several homes, including the Kuamo’s. On Saturday, after the Kuamo’s confronted partygoers burning rubber on the road, Silva attacked the Kuamo’s with his front-end loader, barrels of fuel that he tried to set off, and three handguns.

Neighborhood leaders, including current board president Philip Ganaban, disagree with police characterizing the shooting as a neighborhood dispute.

“Technically it wasn’t a family dispute,” Ganaban said Monday after meeting with the Kuamo family. “It was an issue, again, with people who were renting that party place, that Dome. He (Silva) had issues with them, he filed complaints about the people who were renting that place.”

Keamo family attorney Micheal Green said he will consider the city as a potential defendant when seeking damages for the decimated family and home.

“It wasn’t just a shack, it was cars racing down the street. They complained about it. People were shredding tires with their cars. He complained about it. And they were there before, and so were the police. And I think this guy had had enough,” Green said.

The city declined to provide officials to answer Hawaii News Now’s questions about its enforcement at the party site.

But the city’s planning and permitting department says it issued a violation notice in April 2021 after receiving its only complaint — about an unpermitted structure, not illegal parties. The notice warns of fines if Silva doesn’t obtain a permit or dismantle it within a month, but as the parties continued, inspectors didn’t follow up or issue the threatened fines, saying the Silvas didn’t respond to their requests to inspect the property.

The issue arose Tuesday night as the Neighborhood Council grappled with the tragedy and what may have caused it.

Board member Mae Perry specifically linked the Dome’s operation to the tragedy.

“The lesson is that maybe the city needs to be more progressive on this violation,” Perry said. “Maybe if it had been more progressive, maybe this incident wouldn’t have happened. Maybe the Dome wouldn’t have been there.”

Member Chris Masuoka said he wasn’t saying whether or not the incident could have been prevented, but he was nonetheless frustrated by the lack of action, especially since Silva had been fined and had a lien on his property for illegal grading and dumping.

“Why aren’t they being proactive? Everything seems to be reactive,” he said.

Speaking via Zoom City, DPP Director Dawn Apuna told the board, “I believe, and this is a great question, that these are the processes that are laid out within the ordinances for us to follow.”

But former board chairman Teruya says the city knew more than it admitted.

“You could have just closed it. There are more things you can do. You don’t have to make up those kinds of excuses today,” he said.

“We wouldn’t be here talking about this, or it probably wouldn’t happen. It’s because of that Dome and what it attracts. So, you know, the DPP can say whatever they want. They always have a lack of enforcement. HPD has poor enforcement, and this is what we keep hearing on the Waianae Coast.”

On Wednesday afternoon, the city issued a second statement: “The city does not believe it is appropriate to blame an organization for the criminal conduct of an individual.” It went on to say, “The DA’s Office could not have foreseen these events, and the city does not believe there is any correlation between the DA’s authority to issue permits and the extreme acts for which Mr. Silva is personally responsible.”

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