HAWAII COUNTY POLICE DEPARTMENT
WEST HAWAII CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION SECTION
LIEUTENANT PAUL KEALOHA
PHONE: 326-4646
SEPTEMBER 7, 2004
I-04308

MEDIA RELEASE UPDATE

Big Island police have charged a 21-year-old Kailua-Kona man in a shooting early Monday (September 6, 2004) in which a Honomu woman was wounded in the Coconut Grove Marketplace of Kailua-Kona.

At 6:15 p.m. Tuesday, West Hawaii Criminal Investigation Section detectives charged Matthew Eric Johnson with one count of first-degree attempted murder, six counts of first-degree terroristic threatening, six counts of first-degree reckless engandering, three firearms offenses and one count of criminal property damage.

Responding to a 1:48 a.m. call Monday, Kona patrol officers determined that Johnson allegedly shot Melanaea Mather, 21, of Honomu, in the lower torso and fired at a 28-year-old male whose cell phone was damaged by the gunshot.

Bystanders in the parking lot subdued the suspect and took a .25-caliber semi-automatic pistol from him.

Mather was taken to the Kona Community Hospital, where she was reported in stable condition on Tuesday.

Johnson is being held in the Kona police cellblock in lieu of $114,300 bail.

Anyone with information about the shooting or the circumstances leading up to it is asked to call Detective Zack Houchin of the West Hawaii CIS at 326-4646 or the police non-emergency number at 935-3311.

Those who wish to remain anonymous may call Crime Stoppers at 961-8300 in Hilo or 329-8181 in Kona. All Crime Stoppers information is kept strictly confidential.

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