KANE'OHE — A dispute over a woman started an argument that led to a man being shot dozens of times in the middle of Kane'ohe Bay Drive Monday night, according to law enforcement officials.

The dispute also may have included drugs, said police officers who did not want to be named because of the ongoing criminal investigation.

The 30-year-old man who was shot had started a relationship with the woman who worked with the two men arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder, one of the officers said.

William Lee Freeman, 35, and Jerrico Dewon Lindsey, 26, were arrested in connection with the shooting.

Prosecutors last night charged Freeman with kidnapping and hindering prosecution. Freeman, being held in lieu of $3 million bail, is to make an initial appearance this morning at District Court with a preliminary hearing tentatively scheduled for Monday afternoon.

A murder charge was pending against Lindsey.

Lindsey is believed to be the shooter and Freeman the driver, police said. Both men lived in Alabama before moving to Hawai'i.

A third man who allegedly was with Freeman and Lindsey the night of the shooting has not yet been found.

The dead man was identified by police as Fernando Correa, also known as Fernando Correa-Lua, but police said they are working through a list of at least a half-dozen aliases and can't confirm the man's true identity.

"Police are continuing to research the identity of the victim," said Michelle Yu, police department spokeswoman. "We are continuing to follow up on leads and are still looking for a third suspect."

Police said Tuesday that they were interviewing the woman who had been at the home when three men got into an argument with the victim.

She was distraught and, at the time, the officers did not know how she was connected to the victim, police said.

The woman could not be reached for comment.

Freeman was arrested at 11:17 p.m. Monday in Hale'iwa, hiding near a home behind Jameson's By The Sea Restaurant. Lindsey was arrested about 8 a.m. Tuesday near Laniakea Beach.

MURDER CHARGE IN 2000

Lindsey has been arrested and charged with murder once before on the Mainland.

He was arrested in September 2000 in Prichard, Ala., and charged with two counts of murder, law enforcement officials there confirmed yesterday.

Nicki Patterson, Mobile County chief assistant district attorney, said Lindsey was arrested by Prichard police on Sept. 3, 2000, on two counts of murder, four counts of first-degree assault and one count each of shooting into an occupied vehicle and receiving stolen property.

Patterson said a District Court judge dismissed all charges against Lindsey a short time later because of a lack of evidence.

"The double homicide (in Alabama) remains unsolved and the investigation remains open," Patterson said by phone.

Patterson said records indicate that the shootings were the only encounter Lindsey had with police in southwestern Alabama as an adult. She said she is prohibited from disclosing whether Lindsey had a criminal record as a juvenile or as a young adult.

According to reports in the Mobile Press-Register, police said in 2000 that the shootings had begun in a parking lot at the corner of a U.S. highway and a city street where more than 100 people had gathered. There were several parties along the city street that night.

One of the victims was killed by a 9 mm pistol and three other people were wounded at that location, according to the Mobile newspaper's account.

The second victim was killed nearby by an AK-47, and the person riding with him was wounded, according to the newspaper's report at the time.

The AK-47 — stolen from a Mobile sporting goods company during a 1992 burglary — was found near the site of the shootings at the second location.

VICTIM TRIED TO ESCAPE

In the Kane'ohe shooting, police said the victim had been thrown into the trunk of a Ford Crown Victoria sedan after the argument. The car drove off and the victim later kicked the trunk lid open on Kane'ohe Bay Drive, police said.

He tried to run away, but a passenger in the car got out with a gun and chased the man before he was shot and left with more than 30 exit wounds, law enforcement sources said.

The Kane'ohe home where the victim had lived for the past few months sits at the top of the hill on Pu'uohala'i Place, at the end of a cul-de-sac.

One neighbor, who asked not to be identified, said the man who was killed Monday night mostly kept to himself and lived in the bottom floor of the three-story unit.

Monday night, the neighbor heard what sounded like "muted mumbling, like someone was trying to shout but it was like they had something over their mouth. It went on for a period that it concerned me."

The man grabbed a flashlight and went out onto his lanai, where he saw a white car backed up to the "no parking" sign on the street. The car contained two men in the front seat and what appeared to be two men in the back, the neighbor said.

The car was running, he said.

"Then the car very calmly drove down the road," he said.

Then he saw a woman emerge from the shadows where the car had been.

"I leaned over and said, 'Ma'am, is everything OK?' " the neighbor said. "She just totally ignored me and kept walking. Then I shined the flashlight at her. She ignored me."

SEVERAL COMPLAINTS

The three-story home has seen a variety of tenants over the years, and neighbors said they have repeatedly complained to the landlord about high levels of traffic and the condition of the house.

The landlord also lives on Pu'uohala'i Place and owns three homes on the street, according to property records. He could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Another neighbor, Jim Nash, has lived on Pu'uohala'i Place for more than 20 years and said cars and trucks had been frequently driving up to the house "for very short-term visitations."

Neighbors had considered banding together to chronicle all of the traffic and possibly write down license plate numbers to give to police, Nash said.

But since Monday night, Nash said, "it's surprising how quiet it became."

Reach Peter Boylan at pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com, David Waite at dwaite@honoluluadvertiser.com and Dan Nakaso at dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com.