Daughter shot dead, NAALEHU, Hawaii >>A 44-year-old man, described by a neighbor as a "really nice guy" who walked his 8-year-old daughter to school every day, was arrested on suspicion that he shot and killed his daughter shortly before noon yesterday.
Big Isle man held
He is suspected of killing
his 8-year-old and threatening
a boy who tried to interfereBy Rod Thompson
rthompson@starbulletin.comThe suspect also was arrested on suspicion that he threatened a 16-year-old boy, who apparently tried to intervene.
He was being held at the main Kona police station in Kealakehe for murder, attempted murder and terroristic threatening investigation.
Police recovered a rifle, a 30-30 gauge commonly used for hunting, at the murder scene, a bed and breakfast in Naalehu.
"He really loved his daughter," said Roland Gulfan, owner of the Naalehu Fruit Stand, just a few buildings away from the scene of the shooting.
"They're like best friends. It's just crazy," Gulfan said.
The man often brought his daughter to visit, Gulfan said. The adults would talk while the girl played with Gulfan's children.
Gulfan said the suspect began having problems about a year ago when his wife left him. About a month ago, the suspect's sister tried to embezzle money from the business they ran together, Gulfan said.
Shortly before noon yesterday, Gulfan saw a teenage boy run from the bed and breakfast to a gas station across the street. "He almost got hit by a car," Gulfan said.
Gulfan said he later learned that the teenager, a guest at the bed and breakfast, had tried to stop the suspect from injuring his daughter. The teenager returned to the bed and breakfast with a group of people afterward, Gulfan said.