Hawaiʻi Police Department
Criminal Investigations Section, Area I
Lieutenant Gregory Esteban
Phone: 961-2252
Report No. C16033660
Helani Kenui
Media Release (correction to update No. 2)[corrects bail amount in 2nd paragraph]
Hawaiʻi Island police have charged a 35-year-old Pāhoa man in connection with a weapons incident in Hilo on Saturday morning (December 24).
At 5:04 p.m. Tuesday (December 27), detectives charged Helani Kenui with one count of attempted first-degree murder, two counts of attempted second-degree murder, two counts of ownership prohibited and one count each of place to keep firearm and use of a firearm in a separate felony. His bail was set at $1,525,000 [corrected amount]. He remained at the Hilo police cellblock pending his initial court appearance scheduled for Wednesday (December 28).
At 12:25 p.m. Saturday, South Hilo Patrol officers responded to the 100 block of Makaʻala Street.
Officers contacted a 27-year-old Hilo man, who reported that while in his car at a business on Makaʻala Street, an unknown man brandished a revolver and fired a shot into the driver’s side front window of his vehicle, which was also occupied by a 26-year-old man Hilo man. No one in the car was injured.
At 7:45 p.m. Monday (December 26), Kenui turned himself in at the South Hilo police station. He was initially arrested on suspicion of attempted first-degree murder and held at the police cellblock while detectives from the Area I Criminal Investigations Section continued the investigation.