An Instagram influencer was fatally shot near a Hawaii mall by her husband on Friday, two days after a judge granted her a restraining order against the man, according to authorities and court documents. He later was found dead in an apparent suicide.
The shooting unfolded in a parking lot near Pearlridge Center in Waimalu, near Honolulu.
Honolulu police responded to a “suspicious circumstance” in the parking lot just after 10 a.m. Friday and found a 33-year-old woman, later identified as Theresa Cachuela, with gunshot wounds, Lt. Deena Thoemmes told reporters.
A child was present during the shooting, police said.
Theresa Cachuela, who was known as “Bunny Bontiti” to her 20,000 Instagram followers, was pronounced dead at the scene. No one else was found injured in the area, Thoemmes said.
The suspect, identified as Jason Cachuela, 44, had fled the scene and was later found dead in an area behind a Waipahu residence, a town located about five miles away from the mall, Thoemmes said. Police said a gun was recovered at that scene.
The case is classified as first-degree murder and the investigation is ongoing.
Thoemmes said the shooting was “not a random act” as the victim and the suspect were married.
A judge had granted the woman a temporary restraining order against her husband, online court documents show. They had been together for nearly 11 years, according to court filings.
According to her petition for the temporary restraining order, filed Dec. 8., Jason Cachuela had allegedly threatened to kill himself in front of his wife and her children on Dec. 6.
He allegedly took her somewhere alone and held a knife to his throat, leaving her traumatized and scared, she wrote in the petition. The next morning, Theresa Cachuela said her husband showed up to her house to apologize, but continued with the suicidal threats.
The evening of Dec. 7, Jason Cachuela allegedly returned to his wife’s home and tried to break into her garage, according to the petition. Theresa Cachuela said in the petition that he threatened to kill himself in her garage when she refused to approach him, causing her to call 911. Police subsequently conducted a wellness check.
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While letting her son in the garage around 6 a.m. on Dec. 8, Theresa Cachuela said she found Jason Cachuela hiding under her car. Once again, she called 911 to report the incident, according to the petition, which noted that he owned guns.
Jason Cachuela was served with the notice on Dec. 19 and the temporary restraining order was official on Dec. 20.
Both appeared in court that day and agreed to a one-year order, set to expire on Dec. 20, 2024. Under the agreement, Jason Cachuela was prohibited from contacting Theresa Cachuela unless it was regarding a minor child, and he was ordered to give up any firearms.
It was not immediately clear how he was in possession of a gun in Friday’s shooting.
NBC News has reached out to an attorney who represented Jason Cachuela in the case.
Lucita Ani-Nihoa, Theresa Cachuela’s mother, told NBC affiliate KHNL of Honolulu that she was meeting her daughter at Pearlridge Center when she learned she had been shot.
She said that Theresa Cachuela’s 8-year-old daughter was the child who witnessed the shooting.
“Her youngest daughter is the one that tragically saw everything,” Ani-Nihoa told the station. “She’s traumatized. She has so much faith, this little girl. She just started praying.”
Theresa Cachuela, a mother of three, had told her relatives that she was abused by her husband and was getting help from agencies that support victims of domestic violence, according to Ani-Nihoa.
“She wanted to leave him but he wasn’t accepting it. He tried to control with, with everything … where she would go, what she would do,” her mother said.
The family has created an online fundraiser to cover funeral costs and to support her children.
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or chat live at 988lifeline.org. You can also visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional support.
