A suspect in multiple car thefts whom police say was shot at by a patrol officer on Wednesday saw his bail drastically reduced Thursday during his initial court appearance.
Kona District Judge Kimberly Tsuchiya on Thursday reduced the bail for 28-year-old Junson Heckerz of Ocean View from $293,100 to $5,000.
County Prosecutor Kelden Waltjen said the reduction was ordered over the objection of his deputies, Brit Barker and Madeline Walsh.
Tsuchiya also asked for an updated bail study and ordered Heckerz to return today for a preliminary hearing.
Heckerz, a wanted fugitive who had been featured on Na Leo TV’s “Hawaii Island’s Most Wanted” program since April, is charged with three counts each of first-degree theft involving motor vehicles and first-degree unauthorized control of stolen vehicles, plus second-degree unauthorized entry to a motor vehicle, first-degree burglary, first-degree resisting an order to stop, second-degree reckless endangering, fourth-degree theft and fourth-degree property damage.
The most serious charges, first-degree theft and first-degree burglary, are Class B felonies carrying a maximum sentence of 10 years imprisonment.
Heckerz was arrested Wednesday after what police decribed in a press release as “a crime spree (that) resulted in an officer-involved shooting in the Captain Cook area.”
According to police, as officers were investigating two incidents earlier in the day involving Heckerz, they received an afternoon report of an active burglary in the 89-200 block of Mamalahoa Highway.
Documents state the property owner, who wasn’t home, received notification that his video surveillance cameras noted motion in his garage and a man, wearing a hoodie and beige shorts, was walking around the garage and removing the cameras, disrupting their signal.
The property owner notified police, and said that a friend of his was en route to conduct a check on the property.
Upon arrival, Officers Dorian Travers and Daniel Akina found a man in the driver’s seat of the property owner’s silver 2012 Cadillac CTS, according to the documents.
Travers ordered the man to stop, but the man reversed at a high rate of speed, stopped, and then accelerated forward toward Travers and the property owner’s friend. Travers was able to safely evade the car, but heard it collide with a gate where Akina was reportedly standing, the court document states.
Police said in the press release an officer “standing just outside the metal gate, discharged two rounds at the vehicle.” The driver, who wasn’t hit, lost control of the vehicle and crashed into a ditch on the other side of Mamalahoa Highway.
The officers, who weren’t injured, rushed to render aid and detain Heckerz.
The discharge of a firearm by an officer wasn’t mentioned in the court documents. But the press release said the officer who discharged his firearm has been with the department for just under two years and is assigned to Kona patrol, which would appear to describe Akina.
Police said the Office of Professional Standards — the department’s internal affairs unit — has initiated a critical incident review into this incident, as is standard practice. The officer who discharged his firearm has been placed on administrative leave.
Incidents earlier in the day reportedly involving Heckerz include thefts of a black 2006 Volkswagen sedan, a Kawasaki Mule utility task vehicle, a tool bag found in the Cadillac, an attempted theft of an orange 2016 Toyota Tacoma pickup truck, and the theft of $120 from a wallet inside the Tacoma.
Heckerz remains in custody at Hawaii Community Correctional Center.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
