KAILUA-KONA, Hawaii – A 31-year-old eight-year veteran of the Hawaiʻi Police Department is under investigation for his role in a non-fatal shooting in Kona on Monday night.
According to a Tuesday morning media release, the police department says a 9:08 p.m. response to an attempted suicide in progress at a home on Manu Mele Street turned into a shooting, when a 33-year-old man who was standing outside the house holding a rifle allegedly refused to follow police instructions. Police say the man attempted to use the rifle to harm himself.
The officer shot the man in the shoulder; he was taken to Kona Community Hospital, where he was treated for his injury, and is now listed in stable condition. The responding officers were not injured.
The police officer who fired upon the rifle-wielding man was not identified by name in the department’s media release.
As is standard practice in any police involved shooting, the Police Department’s Area II Criminal Investigations Section will conduct a criminal investigation into the shooting and the Office of Professional Standards will conduct an administrative investigation.
Finally, a cop who remembers their training and shoots to DISARM and PRESERVE life, rather than killing the people they are ostensibly protecting and serving. The latter always seem to get off without so much as a slap on the wrist, so I wonder if The Man will destroy this officer’s career…?