Gunshots damage
2 Maui homesNo one is hurt by the New Year's
shots, but one bullet lands near
a baby in a bassinet
WAILUKU >> Gunshots, possibly fired in celebration on New Year's Eve, damaged two houses a couple of blocks away from each other in Kahului, including one home where a bullet came through the roof and landed near a baby.
"It's pretty creepy," said Sam Fukuhara, one of the homeowners. "Somebody could have been dead and that's really horrible."
Fukuhara said the bullet, which looked like a .44 or .45 caliber, made a half-inch-wide hole in the corrugated aluminum roof and the ceiling 8 feet from a tenant's bassinet, then dented a storage container. The tenant's 1-year-old girl was in the bassinet at the time, he said.
He said he found the bullet Friday near a pair of slippers at the door of their home.
Fukuhara said the bullet was probably fired between 9 p.m. and 12:45 a.m. on New Year's Eve while he and his wife, Elaine, were at the movies. He said his tenant, who stayed home, thought she heard gunshots during the fireworks.
Iwalani Borge, who lives a couple of blocks away on Kuualoha Street in Maui Lani, also said she thought she heard three gunshots fired around New Year's Eve.
Borge said she and her husband noticed that one of the solar panels on their house had been shattered, and initially thought the damage was from fireworks until her son found a bullet on the nearby ground Monday afternoon.
Borge, who reported the incident to police Tuesday, said she had seen a news photograph of the bullet at the Fukuharas' home and that it seemed similar to the bullet found by her son, Kamuela.
Borge said the shooting was scary when she thinks about what might have happened if there had been a party at their house instead of at their neighbor's.
"I was just thankful the party wasn't at our house," she said.
Borge, who filed a complaint for reckless endangerment and criminal property damage, said she hopes whoever fired the weapon thinks about the possibility that their action might kill someone.
Fukuhara quoted his mother: "Use your head. What comes up comes down."
Capt. George Fontaine, in charge of police patrols in Central Maui, said he is aware of similar incidents occurring at New Year's and noted that firing weapons in the air is "very dangerous."
Fontaine said if people see anyone firing weapons in an unauthorized area, they should call police immediately.
He said residents can maintain their anonymity by calling CrimeStoppers at 242-6966.