Media Release (update)

A Hilo man has been released from custody after prosecutors declined to file formal charges against him for carrying an Air soft pellet gun on a Hele-On bus.

On Wednesday at about 2:47 p.m., South Hilo patrol officers responded to a report of a man with a gun on a bus in transit from Hilo to Pāhoa. A 21-year-old woman observed a male passenger briefly remove what looked like a pistol from his waistband and then quickly returned it. The woman, who was alarmed, exited the bus in downtown Hilo and called the police to report the incident.

Responding officers located the bus at Prince Plaza, where 19-year-old Rico John Ikaika Mainaaupo, who has no permanent address, was found with the handgun concealed in his waistband. Police determined the pistol to be an Air soft pellet gun.

Although possession of such an item is not illegal, police arrested Mainaaupo and charged him with disorderly conduct for creating alarm to the woman who saw it. He was held in the Hilo police cellblock pending his initial court appearance scheduled for Thursday.

Before his court appearance, prosecutors notified the court that they were declining to file a written complaint at this time.

Mainaaupo was released from custody.