Man shoots neighbor, commits suicide

Kona police detectives are investigating an attempted murder and suicide that occurred Wednesday night in the Hawaiian Ocean View Estates subdivision.

Kona police detectives are investigating an attempted murder and suicide that occurred Wednesday night in the Hawaiian Ocean View Estates subdivision.

According to police, shortly after 7 p.m., Kaʻu patrol officers responded to a report of a shooting at a property on Tiki Lane at the corner of Luau Drive.

Investigators determined that two men, who lived in separate dwellings on the same property, got into an argument. The victim, a 37-year-old man, entered his house and the suspect, a 48-year-old man, followed him inside and shot him. The man then stepped out of the house and fatally shot himself, police said.

The shooting victim was airlifted to Kona Community Hospital and then to The Queen’s Medical Center on Oahu, where he was listed in critical but stable condition at last report. Lt. Gerald Wike of the Kona Criminal Investigations Section said the man sustained multiple gunshot wounds to the chest and arm.

Police were withholding the identity of the suspect pending notification of the man’s family and have also not identifed the victim.

Lt. Gerald Wike of the Kona Criminal Investigations Section said Thursday that both men had lived on the property for a “lengthy period of time.”

“I don’t know exactly what the nature of the relationship was,” he said. Wike said he didn’t believe the men were blood relatives and didn’t know if there was a landlord-tenant relationship.

Wike added that he didn’t have a possible motive for the shooting beyond the alleged argument.

“Perhaps after we’re able to speak with the victim we might be able to shed more light than that,” he said.

Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.