UPDATE 3:12 p.m.: Police identified the suspect as 40-year-old Brandon Keala Kealoha of Hilo. He was booked Monday on suspicion of terroristic threatening and detectives continue to investigate.
UPDATE 3:12 p.m.: Police identified the suspect as 40-year-old Brandon Keala Kealoha of Hilo. He was booked Monday on suspicion of terroristic threatening and detectives continue to investigate.
Police Capt. Randall Medeiros of the Hilo Criminal Investigation Division said Kealoha, a student at UH-Hilo, was overheard saying he was going to “shoot people.”
Medeiros said Kealoha was carrying a backpack and police were in the process of obtaining a search warrant on it.
A search of court records indicate Kealoha was convicted in 2009 of first-degree terroristic threatening, a Class C felony. He also has been convicted of misdemeanor assault, domestic abuse, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct.
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Police said this morning they have a suspect in custody after a report of a threat of campus violence was received at the University of Hawaii at Hilo.
UH-Hilo’s campuses were locked down briefly, as were Waiakea High, Intermediate and Elementary schools.
UH-Hilo sent a campus alert on its website.
Original reports indicated that Hawaii Community College also went into lockdown status but that turned out to not be the case.
All campuses have since been released from lockdown status.
No other information was immediately available.
