Manhunt across
Maui aims to
find cop shooter

A bulletproof vest saved the
officer shot during a traffic stop

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By Gary T. Kubota
gkubota@starbulletin.com

KAPALUA >> Police set up a roadblock on the Honoapiilani Highway this morning and were using their helicopter and canine units in an island-wide manhunt to find a suspect who shot and injured a Maui police officer during a routine traffic stop yesterday.

A bullet-proof vest is credited with saving the life of officer Donald Nakooka, who was shot in the abdomen after stopping a car on the Honoapiilani Highway about a half-mile north of Office Road at about 1:55 p.m. He was reported in stable condition at Maui Memorial Medical Center this morning.

GARY T. KUBOTA / GKUBOTA@STARBULLETIN.COM A Maui police officer stood guard last night at the entrance of the hospital room where patrolman Donald Nakooka was recovering from being shot during a traffic stop yesterday. Nakooka's protective vest stopped the bullet but left a large bruise.

Officers stopped cars on the highway this morning and asked motorists if they knew anyone who owned a gray, four-door, older model car similar to a Chevrolet Caprice.

Last night at the hospital, a police officer guarded the entrance to Nakooka's room.

"He's not sitting up but he is talking. Thank God," said Nakooka's mother, Terri.

"He said he's going to be all right, and he's going to be back to work Thursday."

Nakooka, 31, is a 10-year veteran of the police force and son of Maui entertainer Jesse Nakooka.

Acting Police Lt. Jamie Becraft said the car he stopped had no license plate. Becraft said the bullet hit the protective vest, and Nakooka was being examined for possible internal injuries.

George Kahoohanohano, a family friend and retired police captain, said Nakooka was shot at close range and the impact of the bullet left a bruise the size of a silver dollar on his abdomen.

Becraft said police did not know the kind of weapon was used to shoot Nakooka.

"It was just too quick. It was just boom -- you're on the ground," he said.

Based on the bruise, Kahoohanohano said, the weapon appeared to be of a high caliber.

Becraft said last night detectives were still interviewing Nakooka and didn't know why he was shot. He said the car drove south on Honoapiilani Highway toward Lahaina.

Police believe the suspect may be a drug addict because his behavior was irrational and because many violent crimes are committed by substance abusers, said Deputy Police Chief Kekuhaupio Akana.

The suspect was described as an adult male, skinny with jet black hair with a tapered cut, and a hairless forearm with protruding veins.

Besides Nakooka, three other Maui police officers have been shot in the line of duty. The most recent was in the early 1980s during a traffic stop in which a patrol man was seriously wounded with his own weapon during a scuffle with the driver, police recalled.

Maui patrol officers are required to wear bulletproof vests while on duty.