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Waianae mass murderer’s autopsy shows he was drunk, raising new questions

Waianae mass murderer’s autopsy shows he was drunk, raising new questions

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – An autopsy shows a man who shot five people in Waianae three months ago was heavily intoxicated and died after being hit by three bullets from a neighbor’s gun.

But new documents obtained by Hawaii News Now also raise new questions about what happened to Hiram Silva’s guns and why he lied about having cancer.

Silva’s rampage against his neighbors over Labor Day weekend began when he plowed a front-end loader full of fuel drums into the Keamo family’s front porch. He then fired two guns, killing Courtney Raymond-Arakaki and couple Cherell Keamo and Jessyca Amasiu and wounding two others.

Silva’s autopsy showed a blood alcohol level of 0.182, more than twice the driving limit.

The Keamo family’s attorney, Michael Green, says there is evidence of long-term alcohol problems.

“It showed a high level of intoxication,” Green said. “I suspect he had so much alcohol in him for years. The guy is drunk and dangerous.”

Green said he planned a lawsuit that would likely involve Silva’s estate, his family and police who failed to respond to his increasing dangerousness.

Documents and witness statements indicate that Silva’s wife and daughter tried to control Silva after the shootings, which family head Alison Keamo-Carnate confirmed.

“Hiram pointed the gun at my brother, and then the woman hit the gun and stood in front of him,” she said.

After years of tension and threats, Alison and Rishard Keamo-Carnate had purchased two guns just in case Silva followed through on the threats.

As Silva rammed the house and attempted to ignite the fuel in the barrels, Rishard ran to retrieve a gun from a locked safe. He tried to shoot Silva but missed and had to run back upstairs to reload.

As Silva walked down the narrow street toward his property, Keamo-Carnate made his way across the dark yard, intercepted Silva, and shot him over the cinder wall between them.

Silva’s autopsy revealed three wounds; the fatal one cut through his right arm and stomach.

Although Silva left the Keamo estate, Green said he was still viewed as a threat.

“My client tells me he just kept shooting over a wall because people were getting shot in his driveway, his friends, his family – a guy is trying to blow up his house,” Green said. “So I mean, the fact that the guy wasn’t facing him when he started shooting doesn’t matter much to me, and it obviously didn’t matter to the prosecutors who investigated this case either.”

Police arrested Keamo-Carnate at the scene, but released him after several hours. Prosecutors later declined to charge him, agreeing that the shooting was justified in self-defense.

An outstanding question was that Silva’s wooden and metal Zastava rifle was recovered on his property, far from where he was shot.

What was also significant was what was not found during the autopsy: cancer. In recent years, Silva has told several people that he is terminally ill and appeared to repeat that claim during an earlier tirade when he shouted at the Keamo estate: “The doctors say I only have three years to live.”

Alison Keamo-Carnate said part of the fight for her family was rumors floating around the community, including some sympathetic to Silva. His family and friends have released plans to honor him with a convoy of trucks on the day of his funeral.

“To the convoy? People have to mourn. You know, funerals are for the living. And it will be hard, but we can’t control it,” Keamo-Carnate said.

Three months later, the house is restored with the lanai roof destroyed.

“The structure is improving. The healing came faster than the losses,” she said. “We are not healed. I’m not sure we’ll ever get there, but we’re working on it every day.”

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