Sheriff’s Office charges two natives of Hawaii after Air 1 helicopter assists with arrests
Two Las Vegas residents have been charged in connection with a late-night, April 25 armed burglary and shooting of a firearm into a sliding glass door of a residence in the Talon Preserve community on Palmer Ranch in Nokomis, The Sarasota News Leader has learned.
Kalaninuiwahikamoku M. Kekawa, 42, has been charged with armed burglary, aggravated battery and firing a weapon into a dwelling as a result of the incident, which occurred about 11:48 p.m. on Saturday, April 25, his Probable Cause Affidavit says.
Mahikumakani D. Crabbe, 36, has been charged with a felony count of accessory after the fact, his Probable Cause Affidavit notes.
Both men, who were born in Hawaii — as shown in their Sheriff’s Office jail booking records — have entered pleas of “Not Guilty” in the 12th Judicial Circuit Court. They were being held without bond as of late in the afternoon of April 29, the News Leader read in court records.
A Sheriff’s Office “Flash Report” issued early in the morning of April 25 explained that deputies had responded to a report of a shooting in the Talon Preserve neighborhood, adding, “At this time, there is no outstanding threat to the public.”
The Probable Cause Affidavits in the case say that Yves Cesar Van Den Branden II, whose address was redacted, contacted the Sheriff’s Office to report the shooting at his residence.
(A News Leader check of Sarasota County Property Appraiser Office records did find that Van Den Branden has owned a home in Talon Preserve since August 2025.)
A search of the records maintained by the Florida Division of Corporations shows that a company that appears to be associated with Van Den Branden has a Las Vegas mailing address, though its principal address is in Miami Beach.
“As the call for service was placed,” Crabbe’s affidavit notes, Air 1, part of the Sheriff’s Office’s Aviation Unit, “responded to the scene and located a subject running from the residence.” The suspect was recorded by a system inside the helicopter, the affidavit adds.
“Air 1 was able to follow the subject as he scaled the Talon Preserve closed community security wall,” the affidavit continues. After he cleared the wall, it says, he entered a 2026 Chevrolet Equinox with a Texas license plate; it “was parked on the other side of the security wall and was being driven by a second subject.”
The vehicle headed northbound on State Road 681 toward Interstate 75, the affidavit continues. Deputies were able to stop the vehicle and detain both individuals inside it, the affidavit adds.
The driver was identified as Crabbe, while Kekawa was a front seat passenger, the affidavit notes.
Van Den Branden, “who displayed numerous cuts and wounds on his arms, abdomen, and legs,” when deputies arrived at his home, was medically cleared by Sarasota County medics, the affidavit continues; he declined further treatment.
Van Den Branden told the responding deputies that his wounds resulted “from the fired rounds [that] went through the sliding glass doors as [Kekawa] fired [a] firearm at him.”
As Air 1 and responding deputies canvassed the scene, the affidavit notes, they found a Glock 9mm “along the roadside near where the Chevrolet Equinox was stopped.”
Deputies then contacted the on-call detective with Criminal Investigations, the affidavit says. Upon that person’s arrival, the affidavit continues, the detective talked with Van Den Branden, who reported that he was in his bedroom when “he heard a strange ‘Ruckus’ coming from his rear slider doors.” When he went to investigate, the affidavit says, he saw a man “attempting to lift the sliding glass doors off the rails to gain entry into the residence.”
Van Den Branden “attempted to scare off” the man, it adds, “by banging on the glass.” However, the banging prompted the man to pull out a gun and fire it several times, the affidavit continues. Van Den Branden told the detective that he believed he counted eight or nine rounds.
The windows were made of “high grade storm [glass],” the affidavit points out. Van Den Branden was struck by the broken glass “and pieces of the rounds traveling through the sliding door.”
As the burglar fled from the scene, Van Den Branden told the detective, he fled to his bedroom to call 911.
While conducting a walk-through of the residence, the affidavit says, the detective “observed noticeable damage to the rear glass slider doors … and pieces of rounds on the floor …”
The area where the burglar discharged the Glock was an enclosed screen patio, which is accessed by a screen door leading to the backyard, the affidavit adds.
Interviews with the suspects
After Crabbe, the driver of the Equinox, was read his Miranda rights, his affidavit says, he “declined to speak about the incident.” However, the affidavit notes, as the detective was leaving the interview room, “Crabbe made several statements … which confirmed his knowledge of the event that took place at [Van Den Branden’s] residence.”
The affidavit further explains that “Kekawa was shown footage captured from Air 1,” as well as photographs of the firearm.
Kekawa’s affidavit adds that he finally confessed to a detective while he was being interviewed at the Sheriff’s Office’s headquarters on Cattleridge Boulevard in Sarasota. He said he and Crabbe “came to Sarasota County for business, but he decided to commit a burglary to get extra money to provide for his family out west,” the affidavit explains. He “told Crabbe to drop him off [at a redacted location] and return in one hour to pick him up,” the affidavit continues. “Crabbe was aware of what he was doing and planned to meet him where [Crabbe left him],” it adds.
Further, Kekawa told a detective that he was startled when Van Den Branden banged on the sliding glass door, and that fright resulted in his firing several round through the door. “Kekawa said that he never meant to hurt [Van Den Branden] and only went to the neighborhood to commit a burglary to steal for monetary reasons,” the affidavit continues.
Further, Kekawa maintained that the firearm did not belong to him or Crabbe, the affidavit says. They discovered it while they were “at work in Texas,” it notes.