Honolulu Prosecutors Clear Officers in Fatal Shooting of Armed, Suicidal Man Outside Hospital
Why It Matters
The decision by Honolulu’s top prosecutor highlights ongoing questions in Hawaii and across the country about how law enforcement responds to mental health crises — and who bears legal responsibility when those encounters turn fatal.
What Happened
Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney Steve Alm announced Friday that two Honolulu Police Department officers will not face criminal charges for the October 2, 2025, fatal shooting of Sonny Siofele, 50, outside Queen’s Medical Center.
Siofele, who also went by Perry Pauli, had been in contact with his federal probation officer that morning after missing a drug test. During a phone call, he told her he was suicidal. She arranged to meet him and, alongside his case manager, accompanied him by rideshare to the hospital’s emergency department.
When his probation officer arrived at the hospital, she found Siofele standing on the sidewalk outside. He told her he was hearing voices, that he had a gun, and that he wanted to die — but that he did not want to harm her or anyone else. She immediately called 911, informing the dispatcher that the man was both armed and suicidal.
Three plainclothes officers from the District 1 Crime Reduction Unit responded to the scene. When they approached Siofele on the sidewalk and ordered him to raise his hands, he instead drew a firearm and pointed it at the officers. Two officers discharged their weapons, striking Siofele in the chest and back. He died at the scene. Investigators later recovered one fired round from Siofele’s gun; it did not strike anyone.
The entire sequence from dispatch to shooting lasted approximately five minutes. Prosecutors noted there were no pedestrians in the immediate area and minimal vehicle traffic at the time.
By the Numbers
- 50 — Siofele’s age at the time of his death
- 11 years — federal prison sentence served after a 1999 methamphetamine conviction
- 10 years — term of supervised release imposed following a 2018 assault conviction
- ~5 minutes — elapsed time between police dispatch and the fatal shooting
- 1 — round recovered from Siofele’s firearm at the scene
Prosecutor’s Findings
Alm said the officers acted within their training and responded reasonably given the threat they faced. “The police officers followed their training. They acted professionally and reasonably in their use of deadly force,” he said at a public announcement of the decision.
While prosecutors acknowledged the officers made no attempt beyond verbal commands to de-escalate before the shooting, they concluded that once Siofele raised the weapon, deadly force was legally justified to protect the officers and their colleagues.
Alm characterized the incident as a suicide-by-cop scenario. “I guess he couldn’t bring himself to kill himself, so he had the officers do it,” Alm said, adding that the outcome was unfair to the officers involved. “They have to live with this, even though they did nothing wrong.”
Background on Siofele
Court records show Siofele had a decades-long history with the criminal justice system and persistent struggles with addiction. His 2018 assault convictions involved law enforcement officers. He repeatedly violated the terms of his supervised release, including requirements to remain drug and alcohol free.
In the months before his death, Siofele had been working with a psychiatrist and receiving court-ordered mental health and substance abuse treatment. A July 2025 probation report noted he had acknowledged his drug use and showed motivation to engage with supervision — though he had also informed his probation officer that he had not been consistently taking prescribed medication.
Hawaii’s criminal justice system has faced broader scrutiny over how it handles individuals cycling through supervision with unresolved mental health and addiction issues. The state legislature has been examining reforms to supervised release and drug-related penalties as part of a broader criminal code overhaul — a debate that cases like Siofele’s are likely to inform.
What’s Next
With the prosecutorial review concluded, no further criminal proceedings are expected against the two officers. It remains unclear whether the Honolulu Police Department will conduct an internal review of the response protocols used on the day of the shooting, or whether the department’s policies on mental health crisis intervention will be revisited in light of the incident.
Hawaii advocates for mental health crisis response reform have previously called for dedicated civilian co-responder teams to accompany or replace officers in situations involving visibly distressed individuals — though no such policy change has been announced in connection with this case.