Hawai‘i Police Department
Criminal Investigation Section – Area II
Acting Lieutenant Carrie Akina
Phone: (808) 326-4646 Ext. 277
Report No.: 23-008032
Media Release
Hawai’i Island police have arrested and charged a man in with robbery, assault, and drug offenses stemming from an incident that occurred during the early morning hours of Tuesday, January 24, 2023, at a gas station in Kona.
At 1:25 a.m. on January 24, Kona patrol officers responded to the business in the 74-0100 block of Honokohau Street after a female employee reported that an unknown male entered the establishment and punched her several times in her head while demanding money from the cash registers. The male suspect, later identified as 51-year-old John Bull Macomber from Kona, took an undisclosed amount of currency from the cash registers before fleeing the scene in a Ford SUV.
The victim was taken to Kona Community Hospital for treatment of her injuries and later released.
A few hours later at 3:56 a.m., Macomber was located on Kuakini Highway operating the Ford SUV and subsequently arrested by Kona patrol officers.
Detectives with the Area II Criminal Investigation Section continued the investigation and recovered from the vehicle an undisclosed amount of currency, clothing used in the robbery, and .5 gram of a crystalline substance that tested presumptive positive for methamphetamine.
After conferring with the County Prosecutors Office, detectives charged Macomber with:
- second-degree robbery
- third-degree assault
- driving without a valid driver’s license
- second-degree terroristic threatening
- third-degree promotion of a dangerous drug
Bail for Macomber was set at $38,000. He remained in custody at the Kealakehe Police Station pending his initial court appearance scheduled for Wednesday, January 25, 2023.
