Armed Hawaiian Citizen Shoots and Kills Mass Murdering Neighbor

If you’re a fan of the Investigation Discovery documentary series, Fear Thy Neighbor, then hold on to your seats because I’m about to tell you the tale of the Keamo and Silva family feud that will undoubtedly find its way into a disturbingly memorable episode in the near future. Waianae, a small community located on the west coast of the Hawaiian island of Oahu, is a beautiful and popular coastal destination mainly for locals, but a place where tourists are advised to stick to the resorts due to the potential for a less-than-friendly atmosphere. This disposition is not always reserved for visitors, however, with all hell breaking loose due to a bizarre family feud that culminated in the murder of three women, the wounding of another man and woman, and the near massacre of an entire family on August 31st of this year. Had it not been for a member of the victimized family owning a gun and being prepared to use it, this already tragic mass murder would have been significantly worse by unimaginable proportions. 

42-year-old Rishard Kanaka Keamo-Carnate, the man who put an end to the murder spree that Saturday night, shot and killed 59-year-old neighbor Hiram James Silva Sr. after the two families clashed over a loud party and speeding cars at the nonpermitted commercial venue that Silva operated next door. The details of Silva’s attack on the family home, however, are horrific in terms of what the mass murderer actually had planned for the evening.  Silva attempted to drive a frontloader, similar to a bulldozer, carrying four 55-gallon fuel drums into the Keamo home that night where 15-20 friends and family were gathered. According to Keamo-Carnate’s attorney, Michael Green, the only thing that stopped Silva from getting into the house with that equipment was the eaves of the carport at the home. Having rammed several parked cars into the house, Silva, armed with a rifle and a pistol then shot and killed three women in the carport and wounded another man and a woman in the process. 

“Then he got out and started shooting holes in the barrels. He was going into the house … he was going to keep people there and set the place on fire… The guy went nuts. This isn’t one on one where someone says ‘he shot first,' This guy was bent on a massacre… The five people [were] the tip of the iceberg. He was going to set the place on fire,” according to Green.

With family and friends taking cover for their lives, Keamo-Carnate, who lived at the residence, retrieved his handgun and rushed back to the carport where he shot and killed Silva, ending the deadly attack before it became a towering inferno. Green says his client is a licensed firearm owner, a claim that Honolulu Police Chief Arthur Logan confirmed, stating that the handgun used to kill Silva was indeed registered. Keamo-Carnate is licensed to own a pistol (Hawaii has a restrictive process in order to own firearms).  Although this is clearly a case of a legally armed person stopping a mass murder, Keamo-Carnate was arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder that Sunday just after midnight and released pending further investigation around 8 PM later that day. Green says his client believes Silva was trying to drive the front loader and 55-gallon drums of fuel into the house in an attempt to hold the people inside at gunpoint, and set the house on fire.

“This is not over. He can’t get into his head what he just saw happen then he’s locked… in a cell… It’s unbelievable. They will run it down, interview witnesses, but they would be crazy to charge him,” Green said shortly after the shooting.

And he was correct. While prosecutors didn’t comment immediately on charging decisions, they ultimately chose not to move forward with any legal action against Keamo-Carnate.  Keamo-Carnate lived in the home at the time with his wife, children, and mother-in-law. He is considering civil action against Silva’s estate and other potentially liable parties according to Green, who also noted that Silva had “threatened to shoot” the Keamo family twice before in 2021 and 2022.

Even after the violence that evening, Green warned that the threats were ongoing, with a Silva family member threatening to return to the scene after Hiram James Silva Sr. had been killed. Chief Logan of the Honolulu Police urged calm and advised anyone with evidence of plans for retaliation or threats between the families to call 911 and report it immediately. The Medical Examiner’s office released the identities of Silva’s three victims, all women between the ages of 29 and 36. The two others shot, a 52-year-old woman and a 31-year-old man, were critically wounded in the rampage, both requiring surgery. Representatives of the family say that procedures in both cases were successful. This situation highlights the dangers of ongoing conflict between neighbors where constant proximity and escalating animosity blend into fatal disaster. It also demonstrates how, faced with seemingly insurmountable odds, an armed citizen is never out of the fight. The tragedy of this incident is inescapable; however, I do not wish to imagine the soul-crushing results that may have been if not for the actions of one man to protect his family, and his right to do so.

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