HILO — Police and court records indicate a Hilo man who was shot and killed by a police officer Monday, the day after his 25th birthday, had run-ins with the law before.
Kalyp Rapoza was placed on four years probation after pleading guilty last September to second-degree burglary, terroristic threatening and promoting a dangerous drug.
His death marks the third fatal officer-involved shooting in Hilo this year.
According to court records, Rapoza also was free on $1,000 bail and awaiting a mental examination and substance abuse assessment and treatment in a contempt of court case stemming from alleged non-compliance with court orders related to a marijuana conviction.
Police say when an ambulance was sent Monday afternoon to the East Kawailani Street home where Rapoza lived, a dog chased Fire Department paramedics back into the vehicle.
“It initially started as a medical call. Fire Department is dispatched and then HPD is dispatched,” Lt. Greg Esteban of the Hilo Criminal Investigation Section said Tuesday.
According to police, the first officer who arrived at the scene encountered the dog, a pit bull, in addition to Rapoza, whom they said was wielding a knife. The officer fired several shots, killing both Rapoza and the dog.
“Right now, they’re conducting a necropsy on the animal,” Esteban said late Tuesday afternoon. “And (today) at 10 a.m., the autopsy is scheduled (on Rapoza’s body).”
Esteban said police executed a search warrant at the home Tuesday afternoon and recovered a knife and spent bullet casings.
Asked if Rapoza’s death appeared to be suicide-by-cop, Esteban replied, “That’s something that we’re investigating, in addition to other theories. We’re looking at other historical information on the decedent and interviewing family members, as well.”
Byron Matthews, a Realtor-broker with nearby Hawaii Land Realty, which is two houses down from where the shooting took place, said Tuesday he was in the bathroom changing clothes to go to the gym from work when he heard “pop, pop, pop.”
“I thought it was fireworks,” Matthews said. “My cousin was calling the police, and I said, ‘No, it’s just fireworks, kids playing.’ Then I went outside and the cops were swooping in real fast, and it wasn’t fireworks.
“The family, I’m assuming it was family, the people living in the house were all freaking out. It sounds like there might have been a structure in the back, and the guy was back there. In the back yard, you could see the guy on the ground.
“The ambulance was there before the shots were fired. I could see the ambulance. This was ambulance alley.”
Matthews said he didn’t know Rapoza.
Police shut down East Kawailani Street between Kilauea and Kanoelehua avenues for about two hours during afternoon rush hour.
Rapoza’s Facebook page said his occupation was “laborer at landscaping hard work. ” It also said he was from Volcano and went to Keaau High School.
Word that Rapoza was the shooting victim spread quickly via social media, well before police released his name. As of Tuesday morning, Facebook showed Rapoza’s name as a popular search with almost 35,000 hits.
Numerous mourners posted messages on his Facebook page.
Wrote one, “Someone please tell me that it’s not true!! Kalyp didn’t pass away, did he?”
“You were such a good friend to me and was always there for me, I wish I could’ve done more to help you. At least now you’ll be in a better place wit your brother…you will be missed RIL Kalyp Rapoza,” wrote another.
A third, who appears to be a relative, posted, “Just at a loss for words … I’ll never forget our memories and our talks. Love you my braddah. I’ll see you on the other side.”
The officer who discharged his firearm has been with the Hawaii Police Department for three years, was uninjured, and has been placed on administrative leave pursuant to department policy.
As is standard practice in any officer-involved shooting, the Hilo Criminal Investigations Section is conducting a criminal investigation into the shooting, and the Office of Professional Standards, the department’s internal affairs unit, also is conducting an administrative investigation.
Monday’s shooting was the third fatal police-involved shooting this year in Hilo.
On Feb. 5, officers shot and killed 38-year-old Ronald Barawis of Kailua-Kona and critically injured a woman in the car with him at the Puainako Town Center McDonald’s drive-thru.
Four days later, officers shot and killed 29-year-old Scottie I.K. Yanagawa in the Hilo Walmart parking lot.
Barawis was a recently paroled ex-convict; Yanagawa was a prison furlough escapee. Both were wanted by police as suspects in an early-morning shooting on Jan. 31 above Honolii Beach Park in Hilo that hospitalized 31-year-old William “Willie Boy” Holbron-Kealoha of Kona. A third man, John Perez III, who was recently paroled for a 1991 murder, is charged with attempted second-degree murder in that shooting.
