The Honolulu Police Department released Friday a 911 call from a frightened woman about Lindani Myeni's allegedly illegal presence at a Nuuanu house prior to the fatal shooting by police.
Myeni, 29, walked into the home on April 14, sat down and took off his shoes, prompting the occupants of the house to call 911, police said previously.
Warning: Some listeners may find the following audio disturbing.
The caller's name and address have been removed from the recording.
"I don't know whether he knows our owner or not," the woman said on the call. "I don't know him."
“Is he white? Is he Black? Is he local?" the dispatcher asked. The woman, who sounded like she was crying through much of the call, eventually answered, “Black.”
When gunshots rang out, the dispatcher exclaimed, “Oh my God.”
In addition to the 911 call, police earlier released two clips from responding officers' body camera footage.
In one clip of the dark footage, what sounds like a distraught woman outside a house tells an officer, “that's him.” The officer yells repeatedly for Myeni to get on the ground.
Shots ring out and then after a pause an officer says, “police.”
In releasing the footage, Acting Deputy Chief Allan Nagata acknowledged officers didn’t identify themselves before shooting. But he said it was clear they were police, even in the dark.
Officers were in a “fight for their lives,” Nagata said, adding that Myeni had assaulted the officers, punching one of them until the officer briefly lost consciousness. A stun gun didn't seem to have an effect on Myeni, Nagata said.
Myeni's wife filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the officers, alleging they were motivated by racial discrimination because Myeni was a Black man from South Africa.
