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Police Identify Puna Shooting Suspect 06-15-01

HAWAII COUNTY POLICE DEPARTMENT
INVESTIGATIVE OPERATIONS BUREAU
ASSISTANT POLICE CHIEF WENDELL PAIVA
PHONE: 961-2341
JUNE 15, 2001

MEDIA RELEASE UPDATE

Hilo detectives have identified a 20-year-old victim involved in a shooting with police as Shaun “Mika” Thompson of the Ainaloa subdivision of Puna.

Autopsy results released Friday (June 15, 2001) indicate that Thompson died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. The shooting incident, initially classified as a coroner’s inquest, has been reclassified as a suicide.

The autopsy results also revealed that Thompson sustained a second gunshot wound to his facial area that was not fatal.

In conjunction with the shooting incident, Hilo Criminal Investigation Section detectives have initiated the following criminal cases: Two counts of kidnapping, six counts of terroristic threatening, six counts of recklessly endangering, two counts of firearms violations and a robbery.

The criminal cases were brought because Thompson had threatened a 64-year-old female driver and her 65-year-old male passenger in a vehicle in which Thompson was riding.

At one point, Thompson threatened and pointed a rifle at both individuals as well as at uniformed officers at the scene before shooting himself.

A 19-year-old male who was with Thompson is confined at the Hilo Medical Center recovering from a gunshot wound that he received after being shot by a uniformed Puna Patrol officer.

Hilo detectives are continuing an investigation into the shooting incidents, which occurred about 7:50 p.m. yesterday (June 14, 2001) on Ainaloa Boulevard near the junction with Route 130 in the Ainaloa subdivision of Puna. The driver of the vehicle and her passenger were stopped on Ainaloa Boulevard by one of the two males involved in the incident.

Apparently, both males wanted a ride to Kaloli Boulevard in Hawaiian Paradise Park and entered the vehicle without the consent of either the driver or her passenger.

Before the junction with Route 130, the driver pulled over to the right portion of the roadway and requested assistance from four uniformed officers who were in the area in response to a gunshot call reported to police dispatch.

The passenger of the vehicle started sounding the vehicle’s horn to attract the attention of the officers. As the officers approached the vehicle, they recognized Thompson and his companion, seated in the back seat of the vehicle, as individuals who had previous contact with police.

One of the officers observed that Thompson, positioned in the right rear passenger seat of the vehicle, was in possession of what appeared to be a rifle. Thompson subsequently pointed the rifle at the officer, who immediately backed away and alerted the other officers of the firearm.

The officers ordered both males to get out of the vehicle, at which time the 19-year-old male positioned in the left rear passenger seat started to get out of the vehicle when a gunshot was fired within the vehicle.

One of the four officers, an 11-year veteran with the department, fired one shot from his service pistol and the bullet hit the 19-year-old male in the left chest area.

Immediately thereafter, another gunshot was fired within the vehicle. The officers then discovered that Thompson had sustained an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to his facial and head area.

The 19-year-old was then taken to the Hilo Medical Center by Fire Department paramedics and underwent emergency surgery for his injuries

Following standard department procedures for similar type incidents, the officer involved in the shooting has been placed on leave. The investigation is continuing by detectives of both the Criminal Investigation Section and the Internal Affairs Section.

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