Since the tragic murder-suicide of a family in a Mānoa home last Sunday, the community has been grappling with the question of what could have led to such a horrific crime.
Former Honolulu Police Detective Sheryl Sunia says trauma from a case like this affects the officers who respond to the 911 call as well.
"There's no way any officer can prepare for this," she said.
Sunia retired after 28 years on the force serving in Homicide, Child Sex Crimes and Crisis Negotiation. She was the chief negotiator for the Xerox case in 1999, when Bryan Koji Uyesugi fatally shot seven co-workers, including his supervisor.
She remembers what it was like having to talk to Uyesugi after the incident.
"I'm talking to (Uyesugi) who's done it. He's not on drugs. He's not under the influence. He's an angry person," she explained. "And so it was, it was a different process in my mind, of trying to piece together everything and that's why critical incident debriefing is very important, because I didn't know the whole story."
After that negotiation, she was able to get Uyesugi to surrender to the police.
To be a negotiator, she said, is to prevent further loss of life. She teaches these practices to her students at Hawaii Pacific University now, where she is head of the Criminal Justice program.
And as for the general public, Sunia advises that if they hear any disturbances in neighboring homes, they should promptly dial 911.
This story aired on The Conversation on March 12, 2024. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1.
