A 27-year-old prison furlough violator who was apprehended after an armed confrontation with police last December in Hilo told a judge Thursday he was trying to commit suicide by cop.
Joshua Lopes-Keli pleaded guilty Thursday to first-degree terroristic threatening and being a felon in possession of a firearm. Under terms of the plea deal, he faces a possible 10-year prison term when he’s sentenced at 1 p.m. Oct. 13 by Hilo Circuit Judge Glenn Hara.
In return for his guilty pleas, prosecutors dropped charges of violating terms of furlough, resisting arrest, promoting a dangerous drug, marijuana possession, drug paraphernalia and four other firearms offenses.
Lopes-Keli was wanted by police when officers found him at about 1:06 a.m. Dec. 5 in a parking lot on Rainbow Drive in Hilo, sitting in a car with 23-year-old Michaela Pacyao of Waikoloa. According to court documents, when three officers approached the car, Lopes-Keli produced a Glock .45-caliber semi-automatic handgun while telling officers to shoot him.
Officers struggled with Lopes-Keli for possession of the firearm and used a Taser to subdue him.
Lopes-Keli said he knew there was an all-points bulletin for his arrest, “so I went through some problems mentally plus I was under the influence of methamphetamines … .”
He said he was in the car with Pacyao “deciding how I was going to get back home” when police arrived.
“As he approached the car, I gave him a false name,” Lopes-Keli told Hara. “I gave him my braddah’s name, hoping he would let me go. And he didn’t. All this time, I was contemplating, due to the effect of methamphetamine, being under the influence of that, suicide. I wasn’t honestly going to hurt nobody with ’em. I think I’d had enough for take myself out.”
“Mr. Lopes, are you telling me you had a gun in the car?” the judge asked.
“Yeah. So, I wen’ grab ’em, and I was hoping they was goin’ shoot me, but they neva. Thank God they wen’ tase me,” he replied.
Deputy Prosecutor Jack Matsukawa told Hara the gun was loaded.
Police later found 2.9 grams of methamphetamine and 0.9 grams of marijuana after a search of Lopes-Keli’s belongings, according to documents.
Lopes-Keli, who is serving time for strong-arm robbery, was originally also charged with three counts of attempted first-degree murder with the three officers, Christopher Jelsma, Thomas Chun-Ming and Gibson Kahele, as victims, but Hilo District Judge Harry Freitas found that probable cause didn’t exist to prosecute those charges.
Lopes-Keli’s girlfriend, Camille Castro, was in the courtroom gallery with another woman, and Lopes-Keli looked their way several times and once spoke to them during proceedings, prompting Hara to tell Lopes-Keli to pay attention. Castro broke into tears during the hearing.
Afterward, Castro called Lopes-Keli “a gentle giant” and said, “I love him, and I know the real him.”
Castro said Lopes-Keli was trying to get home to Waianae, Oahu, to see his father, who has since died. She added that Lopes-Keli tried to force officers to kill him because he didn’t want to go back to prison.
Castro said Lopes-Keli suffers from paranoia because of a controlling father — which she said was exacerbated by drug use — and added, “When I met him, I made him be sober.”
Castro, who also has a drug case set for trial this month, said she thinks Lopes-Keli was “set up” by Pacyao and police and he doesn’t belong in prison.
“Doing drugs puts a lot of people in prison when what they need is some beneficial incentive rehabilitation,” she said.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
