Hawaiʻi Police Department
Area I Operations
Assistant Chief Henry Tavares
Phone: 961-2342
Report No. C14019037
Media Release
Hawaiʻi Island police are investigating a non-fatal officer-involved shooting in Hilo on Monday.
Shortly before 11:30 a.m., South Hilo Patrol officers responded to a report of a domestic incident in a pink sports-utility vehicle in the Panaʻewa area.
The officers located the SUV. When they attempted to contact the operator, it fled. Officers followed it to Stainback Highway, where it turned around on a side road and drove recklessly toward two officers. In response, three shots were fired toward the SUV, which continued down Stainback Highway. It then stopped a short distance later and the suspect fled into the bushes.
It was determined that no one else was in the vehicle at that time.
The suspect was located a short time later. He was identified as 38-year-old Riley Asuncion of Pāhoa, arrested on suspicion of terroristic threatening and taken to Hilo Medical Center, where he remains in stable condition with a non-lethal injury to his torso.
Investigation determined that the 30-year old female victim of the reported domestic incident had exited the SUV before officers began following it. She was later located in Hilo.
As is standard practice in any police involved shooting, the Police Department’s Area I Criminal Investigations Section will conduct a criminal investigation into the shooting and the Office of Professional Standards will conduct an administrative investigation.
