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Man, 38, charged with terroristic threatening on Big Isle

COURTESY PHOTO
                                The booking photo of suspect Warren Cho Jr., 38.

COURTESY PHOTO

The booking photo of suspect Warren Cho Jr., 38.

Hawaii island police have charged Captain Cook resident Warren Cho Jr., 38, for terroristic threatening over a firearm incident Friday in Hookena.

At 6:40 a.m. Friday, Kona patrol officers were dispatched to the 84-4500 block of Mamalahoa Highway following a report of a man walking on the roadway with a gun. Several other callers contacted police dispatch that the man allegedly shot at vehicles passing his location.

Officers on the scene found the man carrying what appeared to be a rifle and disarmed him. Officers arrested him for two counts of first-degree terroristic threatening. The firearm was later identified as a break barrel BB pellet gun.

A Hookena Elementary School employee reported that children were playing outside the school when a staff member saw the man with the rifle staring into the schoolyard. School staff immediately took the children into the school and put the campus on lockdown.

Cho was charged with first-degree terroristic threatening on Saturday.

His bail was set at $5,000. Cho is scheduled to make his initial court appearance in Kona District Court on Monday.

Anyone who witnessed this incident or is an unidentified victim is asked to contact officer Dane Shibuya Jr. at (808) 326-4646, ext. 253.

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