KAILUA-KONA — A 74-year-old South Kona man who accidentally shot and killed Mele, a young nightingale donkey that lived on the Kona Coffee Living History Farm, could face a felony charge.
Maj. Robert Wagner of the Hawaii Police Department said a charge of reckless endangering can be classified as either a misdemeanor or a felony, but police decided to initially hit the suspect with a felony “because, basically, you shouldn’t be shooting a firearm in that area.”
Wagner added he wasn’t sure if the Hawaii County prosecutor’s office would pursue a felony charge or drop it to a misdemeanor.
Police also recommended a second charge, misdemeanor criminal property damage, against the suspect who hasn’t been named publicly because he was never arrested.
The shooting occurred between 5:30 and 6 p.m. April 28. The suspect was reportedly using his son’s .22 caliber rifle to shoot wild chickens on an agricultural property adjacent to the living history farm, which is operated by Kona Historical Society.
A stray bullet from the weapon struck Mele in the torso. She died before a member of the farm’s staff found her. No visitors were on the property at the time of the shooting.
“The suspect is actually the one who called police about this,” Wagner said. “He let everybody know that this happened.”
Mele was a donkey of some celebrity, as the historical society spent two years conducting a campaign to find a nightingale to accompany Charlie, the farm’s aging donkey who intermingled with other animals but hadn’t had a companion of his own species in some time.
Email Max Dible at mdible@westhawaiitoday.com.