Aunt of Trump’s vice presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard “killed by protégé in hammer and knife attack”

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According to several reports, the poet and aunt of Donald Trump’s vice presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard was killed by her protégé in an attack with a hammer and knife.

Caroline “Sina” Sinavaiana-Gabbard, 78, was killed in Samoa on May 25, allegedly by another well-known writer after an argument turned fatal.

Sinavaiana-Gabbard, who is also the sister of Hawaiian Senator Mike Gabbard, was arguing with Papalii Sia Figiel, 57, at the GaluMoana Theater in the small neighborhood of Vaivase-Uta in Samoa when Figiel allegedly stabbed her multiple times and struck her with a hammer, police said, according to Spectrum news.

The woman then reportedly fled to a friend’s house and “it was only on Sunday morning when they were having breakfast that (Figiel) told her friend what had happened,” Samoan Police Commissioner Auapaau Logoitino Filipo said at a press conference, according to the New Zealand Herald.

She later turned herself in to police at the main station in Apia.

Figiel was initially taken into custody on suspicion of manslaughter, but after further investigation she was charged with murder, Filipo said, according to Spectrum News.

Police said last week that the motive for the fatal attack was unclear at this time. The victim was a friend, colleague and mentor of Figiel, and both were well-known poets and authors, several reports said.

Senator Gabbard described Sinavainana-Gabbard as his “best friend as a teenager” who “helped him tremendously during my rebellious phase of adolescence.”

“She inspired me to read so much that I followed in her footsteps and studied English at Sonoma State University in California. Then I returned to our birthplace, American Samoa, where I taught high school English and served for many years as a faculty member, student advisor, and community college dean,” he said in a statement to Spectrum news.

“I was very proud of her achievements as a writer and poet,” he continued. “I love her deeply and wish her all the best in her future endeavors. While I sincerely forgive the murderer of this horrific crime, I hope that justice is done and this person is punished to the fullest extent of the law.”

Sinavainana-Gabbard’s family also told Hawaii News Now She was the first person of Samoan descent to become a tenured professor in the United States and had a successful career as a writer, teacher, and environmental activist.

She was a professor of English at the University of Hawaii for over 20 years.

Her niece Tulsi Gabbard, a former congresswoman in the United States who left the Democratic Party, recently welcomed the idea of ​​running alongside Donald Trump as his running mate in the upcoming presidential election.

“I have dedicated my entire adult life to serving our country, and if I were asked to serve in this way, I would be honored,” she said Wednesday at a book launch event at the Richard Nixon Library and Museum in California.

Although Gabbard is currently running as an independent candidate, she has caught Trump’s attention for her outspoken views on the Democrats and has reportedly visited the former president several times at Mar-A-Lago. The New York Times.

When her niece left the Democratic Party in 2022, Sinavaiana-Gabbard told The Independent in an interview two years ago that one must look at her upbringing in a secret cult called the Science of Identity Foundation (SIF) to understand her political change.

“Once again, I find my niece’s apparent penchant for parroting extremist sycophants like Tucker Carlson and despicable ‘strongmen’ like Vladimir Putin problematic and deeply disturbing,” the professor emeritus said. The Independent.

“As a historian and lifelong student of Eastern philosophies and religions, I find the SIF’s role as an uncritical cheerleader, if not promoter and chief instigator of Tulsi’s fickle political agenda and his excessive right-wing associations extremely disturbing,” she added.

“In any case, I feel compelled to state for the record that Tulsi in no way speaks for me, my family or my culture.”

The Independent has contacted the Samoan Police for further information.