HILO — Police confirmed early Thursday evening they’re pursuing a vehicle they think is carrying a fugitive sought for allegedly shooting and killing a Puna patrol officer Tuesday evening.
HILO — Police confirmed early Thursday evening they’re pursuing a vehicle they think is carrying a fugitive sought for allegedly shooting and killing a Puna patrol officer Tuesday evening.
The pursuit of a man believed to be Justin Joshua Waiki was picked up by Kona patrol. At last report, officers sighted the vehicle on Napoopoo Road and were checking from Middle Keei, Keala O Keawe and Painted Church roads, all in Captain Cook.
A roadblock was established on Napoopoo Road, and there were unconfirmed reports of shots being fired.
Police say they stopped the 33-year-old Waiki, who was wanted on an arrest warrant at about 9:47 p.m. Tuesday at the side of Highway 11 in Mountain View. Waiki allegedly got out of the car and shot Officer Bronson K. Kaliloa in the neck and leg.
Subscribe today for unlimited access.
Already a subscriber?
Login
Not ready to subscribe?
Register for limited access.
If you have a print subscription but require digital access,
activate your account.
Hope they shoot the SOB!
well said….
With all due respect for the fallen and deepest appreciation to those who serve
& protect us here on the Big Island . How in the world could this have happened ?
HPD got a tip that the perp was in such & such a vehicle in such& such a place .
They responded , knowing that they were doing a stop on a known felon
with a violent history and a no-bail warrant .
I have to assume that multiple officers responded , as even simple traffic stops
here in Kona , and esp. at night , feature multiple officers responding .
How in the world could this bad guy launch himself out of his car ,
opening fire on the officer(s) and then scampering away into the bushes un-apprehended
and un-shot ? Did HPD hesitate to shoot based on HPD ROE’s ?
Why was there not an officer per-postioned with an M4/AR-15 carbine
to cover the approaching officer(s) in any such event? AR type carbines
offer far better accuracy at range than the snub nosed Glocks which the rank& file
patrol officers now carry . And even then ; how could multiple officers ,
with guns drawn and returning fire NOT hit the dude before he got away?
Was he beyond the 25 yrds or so that the range practice approximates?
Do our officers need more range time? Back to long barreled .357 mags?
Should there be an AR in every car ? I think something went terribly wrong ,
and it may have starting going terribly wrong long before these sad events unfolded .
Just my humble questions and opinions .
HPD gentlemen , stay safe and may God bless you all .
Prescient comments, almost lost yet another officer before all this was through. God bless HPD, and I personally have zero LEO experience/expertise. But gotta wonder if things coulda/shoulda been done differently, given that he got away twice, and we almost lost another officer in the process.
About the only sure thing in my mind was that Waiki was a dead man walking as soon as he killed Officer Kaliloa. He wasn’t gonna ever gonna see either freedom or another jail cell.