KAILUA-KONA — A 74-year-old South Kona man who accidentally shot and killed Mele, a young nightingale donkey that lived on the Kona Coffee Living History Farm, could face a felony charge in the wake of his blunder.
Maj. Robert Wagner of the Hawaii Police Department said a charge of reckless endangering can be classified as either a misdemeanor or a felony, but police decided to initially hit the suspect with a felony “because basically, you shouldn’t be shooting a firearm in that area.”
Wagner added he wasn’t sure if the Hawaii County Prosecutor’s Office would pursue a felony charge or drop it to a misdemeanor. That decision is out of police’s hands once the case moves into the prosecution stage, which should happen in roughly a month based on the timing of standard procedure.
Police have also recommended a second charge, misdemeanor criminal property damage, against the suspect who hasn’t been named publicly because he was never arrested.
The shooting occurred between 5:30 and 6 p.m. on April 28. The suspect was reportedly using his son’s .22 caliber rifle to shoot wild chickens on an agricultural property adjacent to the Kona Coffee Living History Farm, which is operated by Kona Historical Society.
A stray bullet from the weapon struck Mele in the torso. She died before a member of the farm’s staff found her. No visitors were on the property, a tourist attraction in South Kona, at the time of the shooting.
“The suspect is actually the one who called police about this,” Wagner said. “He let everybody know that this happened.”
Mele was a donkey of some celebrity, as the historical society spent two years conducting a campaign to find a nightingale to accompany Charlie, the farm’s aging donkey who intermingled with other animals but hadn’t had a companion of his own species in some time.
“(Charlie is) getting up in years and donkeys are pack animals, so the campaign to get Charlie a companion was a really special one for the community,” Dance Aoki, the historical society’s interim development director, told West Hawaii Today earlier this month.
The Kona Historical Society also enlisted public help to name the nightingale, allowing residents and visitors to vote on potential handles via the internet. The name “Mele” ultimately won out.
Don’t let his age decide on charging as a felony.
There is only one real ass here in this story, & it wasn’t Mele the donkey.
No matter what you think about gun rights, this asswipe should never have access to a gun for the remainder of his days. Killing a beloved donkey while shooting wild chickens???
We don’t care about school children being killed with guns. Why should we care for a donkey?!
He thought it was his grandchild.
Oh well – maybe next time!