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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, May 25, 2007

Man, 21, charged in Sunset slaying

By Peter Boylan
Advertiser Staff Writer

Dustin Jimenez

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Authorities yesterday charged a 21-year-old man with murder in connection with the weekend shooting death of a North Shore man.

Dustin Kamaki Jimenez was charged with second-degree murder in the death of Dillon Ching, 30. If convicted, Jimenez faces up to life in prison.

Jimenez is being held in lieu of $1 million bail.

Ching, who leaves behind a wife and 2 1/2-year-old son, was fatally shot outside his family's Sunset Beach home as he was trying to break up a fight between two groups of people.

Jimenez was arrested without incident at his 'Ohai Place residence, police said.

On Monday two witnesses provided statements and positively identified Jimenez via photographic lineup as the gunman, according to documents filed in O'ahu Circuit Court.

Ching was pronounced dead at 1:08 a.m. Sunday in the Wahiawa General Hospital emergency room after being shot twice in the back late Saturday in front of his Sunset Beach home.

Ching, his wife, Desiree, and son, Isaiah, had returned from visiting Desiree's family in Wahiawa when they found themselves in the midst of a brawl.

The medical examiner determined Ching died of an injury to a lung caused by a gunshot wound to the upper chest.

The brawl involved six or seven people — including Ching's eldest brother, Billy Jack "B.J." Ching — who were partying in a patio area fronting the street, and a group of more than 40 people who were at an open area called Log Cabins across Kamehameha Highway.

The 5-foot-4, 140-pound Jimenez has three prior convictions for minor offenses, according to Hawai'i Criminal Justice Data Center records.

He was convicted of petty misdemeanor counts of disorderly conduct and driving without a license in September 2005 and August 2006, respectively, and of misdemeanor first-degree criminal property damage in September 2005.

Reach Peter Boylan at pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com.