Hawaii cockfight ends in shooting, killing two, wounding three

Gary Rabellizsa and his aunt, Cathy Rabellizsa-Manners were killed in a shooting at a cockfight in Hawaii. GOFUNDME

Police in Hawaii vowed to crack down on illegal cockfighting after two people were shot dead and three were wounded in rural Waianae, in Honolulu, Hawaii Saturday, April 15.

Cockfighting has been illegal in Hawaii since 1884 but is popular in rural communities, especially among the state’s large population of Filipinos who brought the practice from the Philippines, according to an AP report.

Called “chicken fights” in Hawaii, they often involve bets amounting to thousands of dollars and reputedly have links to organized crime.

Killed in Saturday’s shooting were Gary Rabellizsa, 34, a father of five, and his aunt Cathy Rabellizsa-Manners, 59.

Jacob Borge, 23, was charged with first- and second-degree murder, three counts of attempted murder and firearms charges. SCREENGRAB

Two suspects, including a 16-year-old boy, turned themselves in, Honolulu police reported.

Jacob Borge, 23, was charged with first- and second-degree murder, three counts of attempted murder and firearms charges, police said. Bail was set at $2 million. Petitions were filed against the juvenile for the same charges, police said.

The shooting apparently started with an argument at the end of a cockfight.

One of the wounded men told police that three young males got into violent altercation with six male affiliates of a “well-known organizer of chicken fights in the Waianae area,” court papers said.

Rabellizsa reportedly tried to break up at the fight and got into a fistfight with two males who shot at him and his aunt, according to Hawaii News Now.