A shooting that occurred Jan. 31 at Honolii lookout on Hilo’s northern outskirts might be gang-related, a source told the Tribune-Herald.
A shooting that occurred Jan. 31 at Honolii lookout on Hilo’s northern outskirts might be gang-related, a source told the Tribune-Herald.
John Perez III of Hilo made his initial court appearance Friday and pleaded not guilty to second-degree attempted murder, use of a firearm in the commission of a separate felony, being a felon in possession of a firearm and carrying a firearm on a highway.
Perez, who’s in custody in lieu of $350,000 bail, was ordered to appear at 2 p.m. Tuesday for a preliminary hearing in Hilo District Court.
The 43-year-old Perez, a reputed gang leader, was paroled Dec. 18 for the 1991 murder of 23-year-old Juliana “Trish” Laysa, a prostitute whose body was found in a cane field above Alae Cemetery, not far from the site of the Honolii shooting.
A source close to the investigation who asked not to be identified said the Honolii shooting, and other shootings in Hilo in the past few months, could be gang-related.
The shooting occurred about 4:35 a.m., according to police. Documents state the gunmen fled the area after the shooting in a blue SUV, possibly a Honda Pilot.
Documents identified the victim, who reportedly sustained four gunshot wounds to the abdomen, buttocks and extremities as 31-year-old William Holbron-Kealoha of Kailua-Kona.
Police say Holbron-Kealoha identified Perez from a photographic lineup as one of three gunmen who shot at him while he was in a Nissan sedan at the lookout area on Kahoa Street.
Holbron-Kealoha reportedly told police Perez was standing on the road and shot at him with a revolver.
Another suspect, 29-year-old prison furlough escapee Scottie I.K. Yanagawa of Hilo, was killed by police in a Feb. 9 shootout in the Hilo Wal-Mart parking lot.
Holbron-Kealoha was driven to Hilo Medical Center in the bullet-riddled Nissan, which was abandoned near the hospital and later taken into evidence by police. He was admitted in critical condition and later transferred to The Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu, where he remains hospitalized, documents state.
He and another man, Jack Toribio Casuga, were arrested in January 2014 in Kona and charged with kidnapping, robbery and terroristic threatening in an incident where a 22-year-old man said he was assaulted, forced into an SUV, held at knifepoint and robbed Dec. 23, 2013.
Casuga pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 10 years, according to court records. Holbron-Kealoha pleaded guilty to being an accomplice to kidnapping, robbery and terroristic threatening, and was sentenced June 10, 2014, to four years probation and 18 months in jail.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.