An OCCC inmate shot and killed by correction officers Friday, had escaped through both an open door and an open gate. Maurice Arrisgado Jr.’s escape from the jail’s “intake and release area.”

Maurice Arrisgado, Jr. (47) was arrested near UH Manoa on Tuesday for attacking an officer with a knife.

“Arrisgado was being detained at OCCC, as a probation violator for pending first degree attempted murder on a law enforcement officer charges inclusive of bail set at $500,000,” said Nolan Espinda, director of the department of public safety.

Last night, he was in custody waiting to be re-housed after a court appearance, when he bolted for the door.

Arrisgado was shot around 6:10p.m. Friday just outside of St. Anthony Church on Puuhale Road.



Marissa Domondon lives next to the church and heard the shot. She said she thought it was a firecracker until she looked out her window.

“There was a car blocking my side, so I really didn’t see. But when (Arrisgado) got up I saw bloody man and then later on I saw the policeman with bloody arms…he was held by a police man and then they accompany him going inside the car,” said Domondon.

She said the “bloody man” was slumped over but he looked like he was still alive.

Espinda said a correctional officer shot Arrisgado in the torso. He was taken back to OCCC and treated there before Emergency Medical Services transported him to a hospital where he later died.

KHON asked Espinda what the protocol is for an escaped inmate.

“To try and get him or her back into custody as efficiently as possible,” said Espinda.

KHON: “Are you allowed to shoot?”

“In the course of retaining or catching a fleeing or escaping inmate the use of deadly force is authorized, yes,” Espinda explained.

KHON: “In the back?”

“As needed to stop the inmate,” said Espinda.

But how did Arrisgado escape in the first place?

Officials say he was guarded by at least two correction officers. He was waiting to be rehoused after his court appearance and he was wearing plain clothes.

But he was not shackled.

“He was inside the facility in the intake and release area. He managed to get out the door from that area. After you exit the intake and release area, the remaining barrier is that transportation gate…that area is fenced in. As a vehicular gate was closing, he managed to get through the gate before it was shut completely,” said Espinda.

Espinda estimated Arrisgado had to run about 60 yards from the intake and release area to the vehicle gate.

“And bolted through traffic across Kamehamhea Highway and up Bannister Street with correctional officers repeatedly ordering Arrisgado to stop and surrender. They continued to chase across the highway and into the heavily populated area,” Espinda said.

He explained that correctional officers caught up to him roughly two blocks away.

This isn’t the first time an inmate escaped through an open gate.

In 2013, Teddy Munet escaped while being transported to Honolulu Circuit Court.

At the time, the department of public safety said they would look into making sure that didn’t happen again.

And yet it happened again last night.

KHON: “Is there any way that door that the inmate escaped through could have been closed? Or, in the future, will this be dealt with differently?”

“He exited that door so obviously in one form or another it was open and that is part of this investigation,” said Espinda