Maui officer shoots
man brandishing sword
WAILUKU >> A 30-year-old homeless man was in serious condition with a gunshot wound after he allegedly tried to attack a police officer with a sword in south Maui.
The officer shot the man in the right pelvis yesterday morning, said acting police Lt. Jamie J. Becraft. The man underwent surgery yesterday at the Maui Memorial Medical Center
Lt. Glenn Cuomo said charges are pending against the man.
Cuomo said a man pulled a sword with a 28-inch blade out of his backpack and began waving it at a counter in Longs Drug Store in Kihei.
The man then walked outside and used the sword to strike a customer on the face, Cuomo said.
The customer, a 28-year-old Kihei man, was released from Kaiser Permanent Kihei Clinic, after receiving medical treatment, including stitches, Cuomo said.
Police said the suspect later crossed South Kihei Road and walked to the parking lot to the rear of Ace Hardware, where police officers confronted him at 10:27 a.m.
Police said officers repeatedly requested the suspect to put down the sword and the man tried to attack an officer.
"The suspect refused to comply ... " Becraft said. "As a result of the attack, the suspect was shot."
A woman working at a nearby county motor vehicle office said she heard four shots.
At least two swords were lying on the parking lot next to a backpack on the northwest side of the parking lot, as police collected evidence.
This is the second officer-involved shooting on Maui in the last five weeks.
The other occurred on July 25 when a 25-year-old Kula man was shot in a vehicle in the Hawaiian homestead community of Keokea, after police allegedly ordered him to drop a handgun and he refused.
