Big Island shooting
leaves one dead,
one injured

Police wound a man leaving
the scene of an apparent suicide

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By Nelson Daranciang
and Rod Thompson

Star-Bulletin

HILO >> One man is dead and another injured following an officer-involved shooting in Puna on the Big Island last night.

Police said officers were flagged down by a motorist on Ainaloa Boulevard at about 7:50 p.m. while on their way to investigate a report of a gunshot in the rural Ainaloa subdivision.

As officers approached a vehicle, they heard a single gunshot.

The driver and a front-seat passenger immediately left the vehicle while officers confronted a 19-year-old man who was a passenger in the back seat.

He was shot as he left the vehicle, police said. Why an officer shot him is under investigation, they said.

The man is in stable condition at Hilo Medical Center after surgery for a single gunshot wound to his chest.

Officers found a 20-year-old man in the back seat of the vehicle dead of an apparent self-inflicted head wound. Police found a sawed-off rifle and ammunition for the firearm. Police were at the scene today, using a metal detector to search for evidence.

An autopsy was to be conducted today on the 20-year-old man and detectives were interviewing the driver and front-seat passenger.