Alize Agresor-Ayala was a 24-year-old Asian and Pacific Islander woman from Honolulu whose family shared that she was four months pregnant when her life was taken. On the night of August 19, 2022, she was at a bus stop in Chinatown near the corner of Hotel and River Streets with her husband, Manuel Thomas. According to police accounts, she was sitting on a bench while arguing with a man described as a family friend, Michael Yonenaga.
Her husband approached in an effort to de-escalate the situation.
As the argument concluded, another man reportedly walked up behind the family friend and fired a single shot. The bullet struck Alize in the head and grazed Yonenaga. Emergency responders rushed her to The Queen’s Medical Center in critical condition. She was pronounced dead in the early hours of August 20, 2022. An autopsy later recovered a bullet from her neck and a bullet fragment from her head.
Honolulu police investigators believed the shooting was not a random act, stating that the victim and the suspect were acquaintances. On August 23, police arrested 58-year-old Tony Johnson in the Chinatown area. A few days later, on August 26, an Oahu grand jury indicted Johnson, who was also known as Samuel Carter. He was charged with five counts, including second-degree murder for Agresor-Ayala’s death, second-degree attempted murder for endangering Yonenaga, and several firearms offenses.
In May 2026, the trial for Samuel Carter, then 62, began in Oahu Circuit Court. Prosecutors presented evidence that included surveillance video placing Carter near the scene and testimony that his DNA was found on a spent cartridge casing recovered from the crime scene. However, a police criminalist testified that the DNA results were inconclusive with the testing methods used in 2022. The defense argued there was a lack of evidence and proper identification. Michael Yonenaga, the man who was grazed by the bullet, testified that he could not identify Carter as the shooter in court.
On May 11, 2026, a jury found Samuel Carter not guilty on all charges. Following the acquittal, he was released from custody. As of May 2026, the killing of Alize Agresor-Ayala is considered unsolved.
