Police have a 37-year-old Mountain View man in custody following a non-fatal officer-involved shooting in Puna Thursday afternoon.
Police have a 37-year-old Mountain View man in custody following a non-fatal officer-involved shooting in Puna Thursday afternoon.
Jomal G. Ford was arrested on Mauna Lani Tract Road for suspicion of attempted murder.
According to police, at about 1:48 p.m., Puna Patrol officers and state Sheriff’s deputies were attempting to serve a bench warrant at a Mauna Lani Tract Road home when a vehicle sped towards the officers in a threatening manner. In response, a police officer fired three shots and a sheriff’s deputy fired two shots towards the vehicle, striking the operator.
The vehicle subsequently struck another sheriff’s deputy, then came to rest after running into bushes on the property.
Ford taken by ambulance to Hilo Medical Center for treatment of an apparent non-life threatening gunshot wound and remains in custody while detectives investigate the incident. Ford was also arrested on the warrant, which police Maj. Randy Apele said was a no-bail warrant for revocation of probation.
Police Maj. Randy Apele said it’s not yet clear how many bullets struck Ford, or whether they were fired by the HPD officer or the sheriff’s deputy.
Apele said the the deputy struck by Ford’s vehicle suffered only minor injuries.
A check of court records indicate Ford has 19 criminal convictions, including five felonies dating back to 1998. Those include convictions for negligent homicide and negligent injury for a two-car collision on Hawaii Belt Road (Route 19) on July 4, 1999 at Ookala Bridge in North Hilo that killed 35-year-old John Chavez of Keaau.
Two passengers in Ford’s car, Aleka Rincon, then 20, of Volcano, and Saisyn Weber, then 17, of Hilo were taken to Hilo Medical Center in serious but survived their injuries.
Ford was also convicted in 1999 of burglary, forgery, driving a stolen vehicle and felony theft.
As is standard practice in any police-involved shooting, the Police Department’s Hilo Criminal Investigation Section has opened a criminal investigation and the Office of Professional Standards, the department’s internal affairs unit, has opened an administrative investigation.
Assistant Police Chief Henry Tavares said the HPD office who discharged his firearm will be placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation, also standard practice, he said.
A spokeswoman from the Department of Public Safety, which oversees the state Sheriff’s Division, didn’t return a phone call by press time.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.