HONOLULU (AP) — Authorities say a 20-year-old man who was shot in the head following an altercation at a Honolulu shopping center on Christmas Day has died.
Steven Feliciano had been in critical condition since the Sunday shooting in Ala Moana Center’s parking garage. He died Wednesday.
Police have not yet located the man suspected of killing Feliciano.
Authorities say the victim and his friends had gotten into an argument with the 20-year-old suspect and his friends before the suspect retrieved a gun from his vehicle and opened fire.
The suspect fled the scene, and police say a car matching the description of his vehicle was found torched in Kunia about an hour after the shooting.
Officers had arrived at the shopping center, which was closed for the Christmas holiday, to find Feliciano with a gunshot wound to the back of the head.
Feliciano’s mother, Fiti, told Hawaii News Now that doctors said her son was left brain dead, but she and her family remained hopeful that he would pull through. Feliciano died with his family by his side Wednesday night.
Feliciano had attended Moanalua High School in Honolulu, where he played football. Fiti Feliciano described her son as loving and passionate and said he had many friends.
“It’s the worst dream that a parent can have,” she said. “It’s like somebody just stabbed me in my heart.”
The case remains under investigation.