Marine from Southern California dies after fall from high-rise hotel in Hawaii

A 19-year-old Marine from Southern California died Saturday after plunging from the 17th floor of a hotel in Honolulu.

Luke Monahan, from Palo Verdes, had taken a room at the Ilima Hotel near Waikiki Beach with several fellow Marines for the Memorial Day weekend, according to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. He reportedly fell shortly before 8 a.m. and was pronounced dead four hours later at Queen's Medical Center.

Monahan graduated from boot camp in San Diego and trained at Camp Pendleton before being assigned to the Marine base in Hawaii in January.

"I sent him a skateboard a month ago because he's still a kid," Monahan's mother, Eileen Monahan, told the Star-Advertiser.

Monahan's parents, Eileen and Terry Monahan, told the newspaper that they want to know how the accident occurred and whether alcohol was involved.

His mother said that on Friday she had warned her son to avoid alcohol.

"I said, Luke, remember you're only 19. Don't drink,'" she told the Star-Advertiser. "He said, 'I'm OK. I won't drink.""

The death is under investigation, officials said.

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-- Tony Perry in San Diego

Photo: Luke Monahan. Credit: Monahan family / Honolulu Star-Advertiser