‘They were like my kids’: HPD mourns 2 officers killed in Diamond Head shooting

HONOLULU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) - The community is mourning the two Honolulu police officers who were shot and killed Sunday morning near Diamond Head.

In a news conference, Honolulu Police Chief Susan Ballard identified the two victims as Officers Tiffany Enriquez and Kaulike Kalama.

Enriquez was a seven-year veteran assigned to Waikiki. Kalama was a nine-year veteran assigned to East Honolulu. Both had children.

Ballard, appearing visibly shaken, said she knew both fallen officers well.

“They were like my kids,” she said. “They were with me for five years at receiving desk when I was a major down there.”

The two officers who were gunned down were both parents, according to Ballard.

Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell also offered his condolences.

“Every day, men and women in blue get up and put on their uniforms and go to work," Caldwell said. "Officers Enriquez and Kalama put on their uniforms this morning and didn’t get home.”

Shortly after the shooting, relatives and colleagues gathered at the Queen’s Medical Center to grieve.

[PHOTOS: Double fatal shooting, inferno rocks quiet Diamond Head community]

Pastor Wayne Surface, of Ohana Baptist Church, said one of the officers’ families is a member of his congregation.

He said the officer he knew was a “good man.”

“The family is a member of our church, and we’ve know them for many years,” he said. “It’s somber. They’re hurt. They’re not sure why this has happened. They’re looking to the lord to provide comfort.”

Other police departments from across the nation also expressed their sympathies.

The Los Angeles Police Department communications division tweeted: “Our hearts are with our brothers and sisters @honolulupolice today with the loss of two police officers. Condolences to their families and colleagues.”

And Maui Police Officer Marvin Tevaga sang a touching tribute to Enriquez and Kalama.

He wrote that although he had never met them, he felt “pain in my heart to hear of their untimely death here in our Island Home.”

“I turn to music to dedicate our deepest prayers and love to their ‘Ohana and pray for safety for them and our ‘Ohana Blue,” Tevaga wrote.

With Sunday’s deaths, 50 Honolulu police officers have now been killed in the line of duty.

[Read more: Honolulu has lost 2 officers in the same shooting twice. The last time it happened: 1963]

It was just the second time in the history of the Honolulu Police Department in which two officers were killed in the same incident.

And it’s been 17 years since a shooting claimed the life of a HPD officer.

[Read more: Body camera footage shows 2019 encounter between suspect, officer killed in line of duty]

Copyright 2020 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.