Another investigation into a fatal police shooting has cleared the officers of wrongdoing.
In 2024, four Honolulu Police officers shot 56-year-old Eric Walsh 15 times in a Waikīkī apartment building. On Wednesday, Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney Steve Alm announced that the officers’ use of lethal force was justified and that no charges will be filed against them.
While the incident that ended in Walsh’s death took place between July 18 and 19 in 2024, the events that led to it began weeks before. On July 3, a man matching Walsh’s description entered a bank in Kāne‘ohe and delivered a teller a handwritten note reading “This is a robbery. Do not move your hands or feet or say a word.”
The teller complied and gave the robber $1,100 in cash before he left.
Five days later, another robbery took place at another bank in Kailua. The robber delivered a teller a similar handwritten note and walked away with about $5,200 in cash, though not before apologizing to the teller for the stressful situation.
By the time a third robbery took place at a Pearl City bank on July 16 — during which the robber made off with approximately $6,646 — HPD detectives had identified Walsh as the primary suspect. Walsh had 27 prior felony convictions, mostly for various forms of identity theft, and his probation officer identified Walsh in the banks' surveillance footage.
On July 18, officers learned that Walsh was staying with a girlfriend at an apartment building on Ala Wai Boulevard in Waikīkī. While the girlfriend initially told officers that she hadn’t seen Walsh, a neighbor later told officers that Walsh was in her apartment and that he was armed with a handgun.
This initiated a lengthy standoff, with two teams of officers stationed in the apartment hallway, counter-sniper teams across the street, and a police robot physically blocking the apartment door. Walsh repeatedly shouted that he wouldn’t comply and reportedly racked his firearm loudly and frequently.
At one point, Walsh shouted that he was high on meth and taunted officers, telling them to “come in here and get me.”
But in the early hours of July 19, Walsh — having endured multiple rounds of tear gassing — left the apartment. As he walked toward officers, raising his pistol, the four-officer team opened fire.
Alm said Wednesday that 15 shots struck Walsh, but added that more shots were likely fired that missed the target.
“It may seem like a lot, but each officer in that situation assumes they’re the one who has to shoot,” Alm said.
According to the prosecuting attorney’s report, Walsh seemingly shot two officers during the final gundown, but they were uninjured. Officers found Walsh was only armed with an air pistol, a replica Glock handgun only capable of firing BBs. No other weapon was found on Walsh’s body or in the apartment.
Alm said Wednesday that the pistol did not have the orange tip on the barrel that typically distinguishes air guns from real firearms, and looked like the genuine article from a distance.
“These realistic replicas have caused some real problems, here and on the mainland,” Alm said, adding that he is unaware of any legal regulations that apply to the sale of realistic replica guns.
However, federal law does require that all toy and imitation firearms transported or sold within the country have markings such as the orange tip, although there is no law against removing or painting over those markings.
Honolulu city ordinances prohibit the public display of air guns or replica guns and require that any transaction involving an air gun take place between parties at least 18 years old, unless a child’s parent or guardian is involved in the transaction.
Walsh, declared dead shortly after the shooting, was found to have meth, cocaine and benzodiazepines, a category of depressant drugs.
Like so many of the other police shootings Alm’s office has investigated in the past year, Alm concluded that the incident was yet another case of “suicide by cop,” that Walsh clearly wanted to be killed and, by appearing to be a “violent and desperate” man, forced officers to oblige.
“I wish that folks who felt this depressed, who feel that living is too difficult, would get the help they need,” Alm said.
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