A 37-year-old Ocean View man is awake and talking at an Oahu hospital after being shot twice during an apparent attempted murder-suicide March 12 in Ka’u.
Daniel Moriarty is currently out of the intensive care unit at The Queen’s Medical Center on Oahu, his mother, Kay Martin, who arrived earlier this week to be by her son’s side, said Wednesday afternoon. West Hawaii Today is identifying Moriarty with his consent.
She said her son, a single father of three who was not ready to be interviewed, remains paralyzed from the waist down after being shot twice in the back. He came out of sedation on Tuesday.
“He’s doing well, considering what he’s been through,” Martin told West Hawaii Today. “He’s doing his best.”
Martin said her son also requested prayers be said for him to assist in his recovery at 2 p.m. Sunday, Hawaii Standard Time.
“Send up prayers, healing thoughts or even a moment of silence for him in a collective blast of positive energy in his name,” said Martin, noting her son came up with the idea shortly after awakening on Tuesday. “He is counting on everyone to spread the word to everyone they know to get as many people on board for this healing force.”
Martin told West Hawaii Today this weekend that her son was shot twice in the back and suffered a severed spinal cord during the shooting at his Hawaiian Ocean View Estates subdivision property.
Moriarty was shot following an argument with a 48-year-old man, who lived in a separate dwelling on the same property located near the intersection of Tiki Lane and Luau Drive, according to the Hawaii Police Department, which responded about 7 p.m. March 12 to a reported shooting at the property.
Police say that Moriarty entered his home and was followed by the 48-year-old man who then shot the victim. The 48-year-old, whom police have not identified pending notification of the next of kin, then stepped outside the home and fatally shot himself. Police later identified the 48-year-old as Clyde Claus Criswell, also known as Cris Criswell, of Ocean View.
Following the incident, Moriarty was flown to Kona Community Hospital and then medevaced to Queen’s where he remained Wednesday, according to police.
Moriarty, originally from Oregon, has been living with his children on Hawaii Island “off and on” for about seven years, Martin said. She said he moved to the island to live off the grid “in an area he loved.”