Honolulu police are searching for a group accused of beating a 23-year-old lifeguard and a 15-year-old boy on Oahu’s North Shore, after Kekoa Tamale said he was trying to pull his family friend to safety when the assault turned on him too. Tamale said the attack happened Saturday night and left him with a broken hand, a broken eye socket and a concussion.
The search matters now because police are trying to identify who took part in what Tamale described as a fast-moving mob assault that involved about a dozen people at one point. Tamale said he first ran into the aggressors at a party at Pipeline, where a boy punched him in the back of the head for no reason. He said two other boys came from behind, one tackled him, and then they ran.
He later went to another North Shore spot known as Dead Man’s Curve, where he said he found the same group attacking the teenager. Tamale said the attackers dragged the 15-year-old out of the car and held him down while others kicked and punched him. He said one aggressor had the boy in a hog tie, and that the group was a mix of men and high schoolers. Tamale said he tackled one of the attackers after seeing the beating, and the group then began beating him.
What he says happened next is what has kept the case circulating online and among people on the North Shore. Tamale said bystanders filmed and laughed instead of stepping in, and that one had posted the attack on TikTok. He said no one moved to help the boy, adding that if he had not done anything, the teen might not have survived. Tamale said the violence escalated until one boy was grabbing his hair and putting him in the water, as others tried to tackle him each time he got back up.
Jake Withrow, a family friend of Tamale and the teen, said the assault should never have happened. Family members of the 15-year-old have asked to protect his identity and declined an interview, while Withrow described him as a gifted athlete and an honor roll student. Police have not said whether any suspects have been identified or arrested, leaving the case at the point where investigators are still trying to match names to the faces people filmed instead of stopping the attack.
