Family of elderly security guard demands justice after brutal assault in Ewa Beach
Honolulu Hawaii October 31, 2023
The family of an elderly security guard is demanding justice after he was brutally beaten in Ewa Beach last Thursday.
The victim has been identified as 81-year-old Wendell Weatherwax. His daughter said he was working the overnight shift when the assault occurred.
The incident happened just before 6 a.m. at the Launahele Street neighborhood park.
Law enforcement sources told Hawaii News Now the victim was trying to wake up a man sleeping in the grass at the park when an altercation broke out. Weatherwax was then beaten with a walking cane.
“He was dripping in blood,” said his daughter Melody. “It looked like a horror scene. His phone was bloody. His whole outfit was bloody. His nose was falling off.”\
Melody said her father’s nose was broken in half.
She said despite the gruesome attack, she knows it could have been worse as she remembers a stabbing in Kaneohe last December that killed 77-year-old Windward Shopping Center security guard Mike Chu.
Sgt. Chris Kim is with Honolulu Crime Stoppers said it did seem like attacks against kupuna were rising in the past several years.
“Back in the day you would never dare touch a kupuna but it seems like those days are long gone,” said Kim.
Weatherwax says right now the family is concerned the suspect who attacked their father is still on the loose.
“I don’t want this happening to someone else too. Like if he already had one assault, whose to say he won’t go attack other people too,” Melody said.”
An investigation is ongoing.
