Westside Shooting Victim Fights To Walk Again As Her Family Seeks Justice

Richianna DeGuzman was caught in the crossfire in a gang shooting in 2023, her mother says. But her case remains unsolved.

Kevin Fujii/Civil Beat/2024

Richianna DeGuzman proudly recites the alphabet and holds her left arm up in a bicep pose to show off her strength from a chair in her living room in Ewa Beach. 

A little more than a year ago, no one would have thought these feats possible for the 18-year-old.

On the night of June 17, 2023, DeGuzman was shot twice at Maili Beach Park in Waianae — once in her left thigh and once in the head above her left ear, leaving her partially paralyzed.

Doctors initially gave her just three days to live, her mother says. And if she did survive, they said she’d be in a vegetative state for the rest of her life.

DeGuzman has proven them wrong. Not only has she survived, her loved ones are hopeful she’ll be able to walk before the end of the year.

Even as she progresses, the violence in West Oahu has worsened with several recent shooting and stabbing attacks prompting calls for a greater police presence and more mental health and social services to the area.

The number of killings reported by the Honolulu Police Department in District 8, which includes Waianae, has risen from four in 2019 to 10 so far this year.

Huge Gap: Details Of Police Activity On Westside Remain Elusive

DeGuzman’s family tries to focus on love and hope, driven by a strong faith in God and a deep sense of gratitude that Anna, as her family calls her, survived. But they also live with a sense of frustration that her case has not been solved.

Police said a 20-year-old male suspect was identified but not arrested because the District Court determined there was not probable cause.

DeGuzman’s mother, Susan Mahiai, who grew up in Waianae, says the continuing violence makes her sad but not surprised. The lack of justice in her daughter’s case has made her fear it’s part of a vicious cycle.

“Because her shooter wasn’t prosecuted, somewhere inside of me knew that this wasn’t the end,” she said during an interview earlier this month at her home in Ewa Beach. “When people do bad stuff like that people think they can get away with it, it goes on and on and on.”

An Unsolved Case

On the night of the shooting, DeGuzman was hanging out at the park with her boyfriend, her older sister and her sister’s fiance.

The four were sitting in the back of her sister’s car with the trunk door open, listening to music and talking story when they noticed another car stop near the bridge up the road on Farrington Highway.

A group of people got out of the car and set off a few fireworks, DeGuzman’s boyfriend, Shaceton Scanlan, said in a phone interview.

“We really didn’t pay any mind,” he said. “We looked at a couple of fireworks and then we just came back to talking to each other.”

But then they heard “whizzing” sounds and sensed objects flying past them.

“That’s when we all looked again and we noticed they were shooting,” he said. 

Scanlan and the others tried to get into the front of the car to drive away.

But DeGuzman was shot in her left thigh, then again in the head after she had climbed into a back seat, Scanlan said.

He said his main focus became to get DeGuzman to a hospital.

“I was just more targeted on to get her to the hospital first before I even wanted to feel any emotions because I didn’t want to break down and not be able to do anything,” he said.

He drove as fast as he could to Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center about a mile up Farrington Highway, weaving into oncoming traffic.

When they arrived, Scanlan carried her inside and placed her on a hospital bed after medical staff ushered them into a room.

“When I put her on the bed, she looked at me and then she dropped a tear out of her eye,” he said. “And that’s when everything went blank. I just couldn’t think of anything else but her.”

Scanlan said he and the others there that night were told to wait for a Honolulu police detective to arrive. Even when DeGuzman was transferred by ambulance to The Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu, they weren’t allowed to go with her.

When they eventually spoke to a detective, Scanlan said he felt more like a suspect than a victim. The detective questioned Scanlan about whether a Fox Racing logo tattooed on his right hand was a gang symbol, he said.

The family’s frustrations with police only continued. 

Mahiai said investigators told her that her daughter had been caught in the crossfire between two fighting gangs. They told her they had a suspect, a young man from the Maili area, but they lacked probable cause to arrest him.

A police highlight from the night of the shooting says a group of men got out of a gray SUV and one of them shot toward DeGuzman’s group, striking her. The men then fled in an unknown direction. The highlight only identifies DeGuzman as a “juvenile female victim.”

It goes on to say a 20-year-old male suspect was identified, but no arrest was made.

The prosecutor’s office later accepted it as a “non-custody case,” meaning charges could be considered without a suspect in custody. The charges were assault in the second degree and having a firearm in an unpermitted location.

In a statement, Christine Denton, spokeswoman for the Honolulu Prosecutor’s Office, said prosecutors filed the case with a District Court judge who found insufficient probable cause to charge the suspect. Prosecutors asked police to investigate further, but another judge made the same determination after the case was resubmitted, Denton said.

The documents submitted to the court are not public, according to Denton. Both the prosecutor’s office and the police department declined to release the police report in the case, citing the ongoing investigation.

Police spokeswoman Michelle Yu said in a statement that police could not comment on the case because it is still pending, but she said every case is investigated thoroughly and all parties who may have pertinent information are interviewed.

“The length of an investigation varies based on the circumstances of the case, such as witness interviews and evidence collection and testing,” she wrote.

DeGuzman’s loved ones say they’re discouraged by how the department has handled her case. Mahiai said since the shooting, she’s received only about five phone calls from police to update her on her daughter’s case. 

Scanlan said at one point, the lead detective on the case retired, but no one called the family to inform them. On the first anniversary of the shooting, he called the police department himself to try to get an update on the case but was told the investigation was still pending.

“They don’t call us, they don’t talk to us about anything,” he said. “I had to keep calling them and begging them and egging them on just to get any information from them.” 

Mahiai also said her daughter was offered just $150 from the Crime Victim Compensation Commission, which provides money to victims of certain violent crimes. 

“I never picked up the check,” Mahiai said. “They can keep it. That was a slap in her face.” 

Pamela Ferguson-Brey, executive director of the Crime Victim Compensation Commission, said in a statement that the commission’s cases are confidential.

“The Commission is a payor of last resort,” she said. “The Commission pays compensation after all other sources have been exhausted including medical insurance.”

Broken Sense Of Security

The shooting has made Scanlan more fearful. Whenever he’s out in public, he said he’s looking around constantly and assessing potential threats. 

“I can’t just relax on a chair and not look back, I have to look around,” he said. “The whole time I’m out around other people, I just have the jitters or feel like something’s going to happen.” 

That’s why, when he’s not working his job as a battery technician for a towing company, he’s home with his girlfriend cuddling and watching movies. They both live with Mahiai in Ewa Beach.

Mahiai said the whole family prefers to stay home now, including DeGuzman’s five siblings.

“It’s not only what happened to her,” she said of her daughter’s shooting. “All the ugliness that’s been happening out there, that’s why my kids choose to want to stay home now.”

This year has been particularly violent for the Westside. That has drawn attention from elected officials, including Mayor Rick Blangiardi and Gov. Josh Green, who promised additional resources to the area.

In one of the deadliest shootings in Hawaii’s modern history, Hiram Silva drove a frontloader into his neighbor’s home Aug. 31 on Waianae Valley Road and fatally shot three people before one of the home’s residents shot and killed him.

That followed several other shootings in the area, not all fatal.

Mahiai said it’s sad to see the area where she grew up experiencing so much chaos. She said she understands that police are overworked and if the man who shot her daughter is never arrested, she wishes he would find God. 

Community gatherings and services, like a candlelight vigil she attended with her daughter at Waianae Intermediate School last month, can help bring people together and send a positive message, she said. 

“That’s our hope right there,” she said. “We can hope to continue to stand with each other to stop this awfulness.” 

‘We’re Not Staying Down’

Despite the hardship DeGuzman has faced, her positive spirit is palpable.

“We’re not staying down,” her mother said to her on a recent afternoon in their living room. “We’re going where?”

“Up, up, up!” DeGuzman replied enthusiastically. 

She is still working on her speech, though she’s come a long way from the weeks and months after the shooting when she could only communicate with family members via a phone app that allowed her to select “yes” or “no.” She does regular speech exercises, massaging the right side of her face while she tries to form words. 

She attends speech and occupational therapy twice a week and late last month started to show movement in her right arm for the first time, her mom said.  

Her life is extremely different from the one she led as a junior at Farrington High School before she got shot. 

Scanlan said the two would often go to McDonald’s, get mocha frappes and drive up and down the coast. He loved to listen to her sing while she was doing her makeup. 

He remembers the first time she was able to sing again after the shooting, and the two belted out one of their favorite songs, “Every Night Every Morning” by Maoli. 

“I wanted to cry,” he said. “It felt so awesome just to hear her voice again.” 

Seeing DeGuzman walk is the next big goal, her mom said.

“You worked very hard to get to where you’re at today, Anna,” she said to her daughter, who smiled up at her from her chair. “We’re going to keep pushing all the way. We’re not stopping until you’re walking, because I’m going to walk you down the aisle.”