UPDATE: Police catch fugitive in Hamakua

UPDATED 12:01 p.m.

Police have apprehended 44-year old Ronald Kahihikolo, who was wanted for attempted murder and numerous outstanding bench warrants.

He was located today in the Hamakua district near Highway 19 at the 39.5 mile marker at 10:57 a.m.

More information will be forthcoming later today.

This is still an ongoing and active investigation. Police thank the public for their assistance in this matter.

PREVIOSLY

Hawaii Police Chief Benjamin Moszkowicz said that officers in pursuit of a fugitive found the white Dodge sedan the fugitive was driving but didn’t see the suspect himself, who had abandoned the vehicle.

Moszkowicz said in a Friday night press conference the car “went through a series of bushes and trees and came just to the end of the roadway right by a cliff” in lower Kalopa, makai of Highway 19 in Hamakua.

He added that officers were “about 30 seconds behind” the Dodge, which was reportedly driven by Ronald Kahihikolo, a 44-year-old Ocean View man who had been wanted by police since Tuesday for the nonfatal shooting of a 42-year-old woman Moszkowicz described as Kahihikolo’s domestic partner.

“By the time the officers got to the white Dodge, the vehicle was empty and Kahihikolo was not seen,” Moszkowicz said. “But we know he was last seen in the area on foot and he was last seen wearing a plaid shirt and jeans.”

Moszkowicz said officers continued to search the area around the 40-mile marker of the highway for Kahihikolo, whom they had pursued from Kailua-Kona Friday morning. The pursuit began after two plainclothes Kona vice detectives shot and killed a man driving a silver Chevy Malibu that police were informed was an associate of Kahihikolo’s.

Moszkowicz walked back,. somewhat, a statement made by by police that officers had recovered firearms from the Chevy. He said that two firearms were seen from the outside of the car and police were in the process of obtaining a search warrant on the car.

“The officers that approached the vehicle did so with the impression that the vehicle was stolen, and to talk with the driver and find out whether the vehicle was stolen or not and what involvement, if any, he had with this fugitive,” Moszkowicz said.

He also said police hadn’t yet positively identified the driver of the Chevy, whom Moszkowicz described as “a male who appeared to be in his 30s.” He also said with the manhunt for Kahihikolo ongoing, he hadn’t had time to confirm whether the Malibu and the Dodge sedan were stolen.”

A woman passenger — 26-year-old Jacqueline Keanaaina of Kailua-Kona — suffered minor injuries in the traffic crash and was treated at the scene by Hawaii Fire Department medics, police said.

She was then arrested for an outstanding warrant and transported to the Kealakehe Police Station.

One detective sustained minor injuries and was provided with first aid at the scene.

Officers in Kalopa conducted a grid search of the pasture land and the gulch, Moszkowicz said, and said a county helicopter was also involved in the search for Kahihikolo. He said the search also involved state Department of Land and Natural Resources officers and FBI agents and that support was also coming from the U.S. Marshals Service.

“We have been able to make contact with homeowners in the area, or people in the houses in the area that are affected,” Moszkowicz said.

According to the chief, both ground and air assets are equipped with night vision equipment. He said that will aid in the search “now that the sun is down and the heat signatures will pop out a little better” from the brush the fugitive could be using to hide.

“It’s a jungle; it’s literally a jungle,” Moszkowicz said. “So if he’s hunkered down in there, we should be able to find him pretty quickly with this air and ground search. And if he’s not, then we can start to gravitate the search away from that” area.

According to Moszkowicz, the two detectives who discharged their weapons in Kona are plainclothes and weren’t wearing body cams, so there was no footage of the shooting. He also said he didn’t know yet whether there was camera footage of the pursuit of Kahihikolo.

“The people who were involved in the pursuit are literally at the scene, actively searching for the suspect,” he said. “Hopefully, that’s something that we’ll be able to share, if it exists, in the coming days.”

Police said plainclothes Kona Vice detectives saw the Malibu stop at Kamakaeha Avenue and Palani Road. The detectives approached the Chevy and ordered the vehicle’s occupants to show their hands.

The male driver of the Chevy then began reaching for an object, and two detectives discharged their duty weapons, hitting the driver, according to police.

Police described the fugitive, Kahihikolo as 5 -feet-7 inches tall, 215 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes, and a distinctive tattoo on his right cheek near his eye that reads “greed.”

Kahihikolo is considered armed and dangerous. Police advised citizens on Friday to avoid that the area while officers searched for him and to report any suspicious activity in the area by calling 911.

The Office of Professional Standards has initiated an internal administrative investigation on the police-involved shooting. The involved detectives are 25-year and 13-year veterans, respectively, and will be placed on paid administrative leave pending an internal review of this incident.

Police ask anyone with information on this incident to call the police department’s nonemergency number at (808) 935-3311, or Crime Stoppers at (808) 961-8300.

This is a developing story. Visit wwwHawaiiTribune-Herald.com for any updates that occurred after this story is published.

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