Relatives of a 31-year-old Hilo man who allegedly shot two officers in Hilo informed police of his location Thursday, leading to his arrest nearly 20 hours after the shootings.
The Wednesday night shootings were the first time police officers had been shot in Hawaii County in more than 15 years, Hawaii County police Chief Harry Kubojiri said at a news conference Thursday.
Upon the arrival of a team of 20 county police, sheriffs and FBI agents at the home on East Palai Street, they announced their presence and heard a single gunshot fired inside. A relative emerged saying the man had shot himself.
Officers found Keaka Martin inside the home with a gunshot wound to the chest, police said.
Martin was arrested on suspicion of two counts of first-degree attempted murder and taken in critical condition to the Hilo Medical Center. Kubojiri said Martin remained in critical condition after surgery at 6:40 p.m. Thursday.
The two officers, both shot in the leg, underwent surgery Thursday morning.
One is a 40-year-old with 14 years of service, and the other is 31, a four-year veteran of the Hawaii Police Department.
One of the officers was able to walk Thursday during physical therapy, and the other underwent a second surgery Thursday afternoon and was in stable condition.
"I’m thankful that our officers are both doing well," Kubojiri said.
He thanked the FBI and the Department of Public Safety for their cooperation and voluntary assistance of three FBI agents and two sheriff’s deputies.
"We were able to take a dangerous person out of the community," he said.
Police responded Wednesday night to reports of several gunshots heard in an area near the Wailoa River in Hilo.
At 8:52 p.m., officers were checking vehicles at 905 Kilauea Ave. and saw a man hiding under a parked vehicle, police said. When they approached him, the man allegedly fired a handgun at the two officers, who both received gunshot injuries. One officer returned fire, but it was unknown whether Martin was injured at that time, police said.
The shooting occurred in the parking lot of The Pono Place. It is a Christian outreach organization, according to its website.
Police could not say why Martin was there, and The Pono Place could not be reached.
Kubojiri describes the area as "right in Hilo town," in a business and residential district with apartments and restaurants, near a school.
On Thursday, Martin was seen at a residential-business complex near the area of the shooting, he said.
Police received a tip at 10:45 a.m. Thursday of a possible suspect, and Martin’s identity was confirmed at 1:20 p.m. Relatives called police just after noon to report his location.
Police are continuing to investigate whether Martin was firing gunshots before police arrived Wednesday night.
Kubojiri said the 9 mm pistol recovered after the self-inflicted gunshot wound is of similar caliber to one used in the Wednesday night shootings.
The last time an officer was injured in a shooting was in 1997, a couple of blocks from the police station in Hilo.
Martin has a conviction record. In 2007 he was convicted of misdemeanor assault on a police officer, for which he was sentenced to 45 days in jail. In 2009 he was convicted of possession of a prohibited weapon.
Police said there is no indication the case is related to a fatal shooting Saturday night in Hilo, in which the suspect remains at large.
Tom Fedenuik, owner of Just Cruisin Coffee, whose parking lot adjoins The Pono Place’s lot, said a lot of drug addicts hang out in the area and that "it’s a good place for them to hide."
Joclyn Li, a baker and cake decorator at Lanky’s Pastries, said she was working until 2 a.m. Thursday.
"Normally we don’t have that kind of crime," she said.
