HOLUALOA — A man is in police custody in the wake of crime spree that reportedly began Wednesday in Hilo, involved gunshots fired at a Kailua-Kona shopping center and the response of the police department’s Special Response Team to a Holualoa home.
The Hawaii Police Department’s Special Response Team took the unidentified male suspect into custody shortly before 2 p.m. in the area of Kalamauka Road off Highway 180. His apprehension followed an hour-plus standoff that ensued after the man — armed with a shotgun — barricaded himself at a home.
Police say he surrendered peacefully.
Police reportedly chased the man on foot to the home after he allegedly abandoned a vehicle in the Kalamauka Road area.
The man reportedly had taken the vehicle at the Lako Street Shell gas station after abandoning another vehicle he’d stolen earlier in the day.
That vehicle, a Hawaii County pickup truck, was reportedly taken earlier Wednesday in Ka‘u. Details are still spotty, however, police say the incident began in Hilo. It’s not yet clear how he got from Hilo to Ka‘u.
Gunshots fired at the front door of the AT&T Store at Kona Commons in Kailua-Kona are connected to the incident, police have confirmed.
Some places went into lockdown after news of the shots spread, including the Mokuaikaua Church preschool in Kailua Village.
There were no reports of gunshots fired in Holualoa.