A 72-year-old Puna man is in police custody this morning after a fatal shooting early Monday evening in lower Puna. ADVERTISING A 72-year-old Puna man is in police custody this morning after a fatal shooting early Monday evening in lower
A 72-year-old Puna man is in police custody this morning after a fatal shooting early Monday evening in lower Puna.
In response to a 5:14 p.m. report of a shooting in the Kapoho Beach Lots subdivision, officers found a male victim. The suspect, Richard R. Edwards of Kapoho, was arrested at the scene on suspicion of second-degree murder. He is being held at the Hilo police cellblock while detectives from the Hilo Criminal Investigations Section investigate.
The victim has not been positively identified but according to other media reports, the dead man was a neighbor in the gated subdivision, the alleged shooter called 911 after the shooting and the murder weapon was a 12-gauge shotgun.
An autopsy will be ordered to determine the exact cause of death.
The murder investigation is the second opened by Big Island police this month. Police say 49-year-old Thaine Ulysses Lucifer Price of Honokaa was also murdered.
His body was found Thursday partially submerged in a stream in Waipio Valley in Hamakua.
An autopsy has been performed on Price’s body but police have not publicly released the cause of death or any details on how Price died,
Anyone with information about the Kapoho homicide is asked to call the Police Department’s non-emergency line at 935-3311 or contact Detective Dean Uyetake at 961-2379 or dean.uyetake@hawaiicounty.gov.
Those who prefer anonymity may call Crime Stoppers at 961-8300 and may be eligible for a reward of up to $1,000. Crime Stoppers is a volunteer program run by ordinary citizens who want to keep their community safe. Crime Stoppers doesn’t record calls or subscribe to caller ID. Crime Stoppers information is kept confidential.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
