Police last night combed the Hale'iwa area for three men who fled in a car, then on foot, following a fatal drive-by shooting in Kane'ohe.

One suspect was in custody by 11:30 p.m. The search for the other two continued into this morning. Police with AR-15 assault rifles and dogs were searching house to house.

The shooting was reported at 9:58 p.m. on Kane'ohe Bay Drive near Namoku Street.

The victim, a 30-year-old man, was taken in critical condition to Castle Medical Center, said Emergency Medical Services spokesman Bryan Cheplic. Police later reported that the man died.

The shooting triggered an islandwide manhunt for a white full-size car with tinted windows.

The weapon used was described as a black 9 mm semi-automatic with a large magazine clip 6 to 8 inches long.

At 10:26 p.m., a car matching the suspect vehicle description was seen at the 7-Eleven store in Ka'a'awa being filled with gasoline. Shortly after 11 p.m., police located and pursued the car into Hale'iwa town.

The Crown Victoria, registered to a Maui man, was traveling more than 70 mph. It was found abandoned minutes later in the parking lot of Jameson's by the Sea restaurant.

Police recovered firearms in the Crown Victoria, including a MAC-10.

Witnesses told police three men fled toward homes in the area and a bus driver told police one of the men tried to get on his bus. The driver closed the door and the man was last seen fleeing toward homes on the Wahiawa side of the Joseph P. Leong Highway at 11:39 p.m.

Hale'iwa resident Tommy Morlock, who lives behind Jameson's, said he saw three men running through his yard. He shined a floodlight on them but they kept running, he said.

The men scaled a barbed-wire fence and ran off. Morlock said they left a bag in his yard. In the bag he found four guns, including two that looked like Uzi submachine pistols.

Reach Rod Ohira at rohira@honoluluadvertiser.com and Dave Dondoneau at ddondoneau@honoluluadvertiser.com.