The gun used to wound a taxi driver in a robbery Friday is registered to a dead person, police said yesterday.

Cab driver Yu Kyu Kim, 52, who is recovering at The Queen's Medical Center from a gunshot wound in the neck, told police in a brief interview Monday that he was unarmed, said Lt. Ray Quon, head of robbery investigations.

Honolulu Police Department spokesman Capt. Frank Fujii confirmed yesterday that the registered owner of the .25-caliber semi-automatic pistol is dead, and that investigators are tracking current ownership.

The shooter remained at large yesterday.

Kim picked up a fare at 126 Noke St. in Kailua at about 8:15 p.m. Friday and took the man to the parking lot of First Hawaiian Bank in Pearlridge, where Kim was shot and robbed.

Police are seeking information on the Kim shooting and robbery as well as another cab robbery that occurred Tuesday at 12:25 a.m. in which a cabbie was cut by a knife by a rider in Kalihi.

Police said the man got in the cab near the Hawai'i Convention Center and told the driver to take him to the Bank of Hawaii parking lot on Dillingham Boulevard, where the man robbed and assaulted the driver.

The assailant was described as 5 feet 8 and 160 to 180 pounds.

Police asked anyone with information on either case to call CrimeStoppers at 955-8300 or *CRIME on a cell phone.

LEGAL SERVICES WINS TWO GRANTS

Volunteer Legal Services Hawai'i has received two $20,000 grants to conduct a legal needs assessment of non-profit organizations, particularly those serving Hawaiians.

The grants were awarded by the Community-Based Economic Development grant programs of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.

Volunteer Legal Services Hawai'i provides free legal services to low-income people and nonprofits that serve the needy.

For more information on the legal needs study, reach Legal Services at 528-7046.

ATOMIC BOMBING TO BE RECALLED

A brief ceremony will be held Aug. 9 at the Honolulu Hale grounds to mark the 61st anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, which ushered in the nuclear age and the end of World War II.

The Nagasaki Peace Bell will be rung at 10:45 a.m., and there will be a moment of silence at 11:02 a.m.

Participating in the ceremony are the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Coalition-Hawai'i, the Friends of the Gensuikin Nagasaki Kenjinkai (association of descendants of immigrants from Nagasaki prefecture), and the United Nations Association, Hawai'i division.

KONA MAN HELD AFTER GARAGE FIRE

Kona police arrested a 24-year-old Kailua, Kona, man in connection with a suspicious fire yesterday that damaged a converted garage in Kalaoa.

Police responded to a 1:10 p.m. report of a fire on Ahikawa Street, finding a garage engulfed in flames.

The fire destroyed a third of the converted garage, police said.

Officers said they determined the fire may have been deliberately set by a man related to the owner of the property.

MAN ARRESTED IN ASSAULT ON DRIVER

A 41-year-old man was arrested last night after police said he punched a bus driver after he was denied entry on the bus.

Police said the bus was stopped near Ala Moana Center about 7:50 p.m. when the driver noticed a man harassing people outside. The man tried to board the bus, but the driver refused to allow him on.

The man punched the 43-year-old driver in the face and fled, police said. Police found the man on Pi'ikoi Street and arrested him on suspicion of interfering with an operator of a public transit vehicle.

Police said the driver suffered minor injuries.

THREE WOMEN STRUCK WITH LARGE TIMBER

Three women were attacked with a length of raw timber after a man broke into the Kalihi home where two of the women lived, police said.

Police arrested a 51-year-old man Tuesday on suspicion of first-degree burglary and second-degree assault.

The incident happened about 2:30 Sunday.

The suspect allegedly attacked the women — ages 20, 27 and 41 — with a 4-foot-long piece of timber, police said. The weapon has not been found.