POLICE BEAT
Shooting suspect killed in car crash
Advertiser Staff
Hawai'i County police have concluded that the suspect in a fatal Puna shooting in June died in a car crash on the same day, detectives in Hilo reported.
Police said 45-year-old Noel Smith died in the one-car auto accident in North Kohala on June 19.
He is believed to be responsible for the shooting death earlier that day of Jeremy Napoleon, 28, of Puna.
A gun recovered at the scene of Smith's accident on Akoni Pule Highway in North Kohala has been linked to the Puna shooting, police said.
Although the suspect is dead, detectives submitted the results of the completed investigation to prosecutors in Hilo last week for review. The action is not uncommon in such cases, police said.
PUNA MAN WAS ACCIDENT VICTIM
Big Island police have identified a Puna man who was killed Friday night in a one-car crash as Eldon G. Elder Jr., 57, of a Pahoa address.
The accident was at the Hawai'i Belt Road and the Old Mamalahoa Highway in the Papa'ikou area.
Police said Elder was going south on the Hawai'i Belt Road when his pickup truck ran off the right side of the road and struck a cement column that supports stairs on an old pedestrian overpass.
He died at Hilo Medical Center at 8:46 p.m.
It is not known if drugs, alcohol or speeding were involved. He was not wearing a seat belt.
Anyone with information is asked to call officer Robert Pauole at 808-961-8119.
OFFICIALS IDENTIFY PEDESTRIAN FATALITY
A pedestrian killed Thursday in Kalihi has been identified as Person Waguk, 26, of Honolulu, the city Medical Examiner's Office said yesterday.
Waguk was walking across North King Street near Palama Street about 12:30 a.m. Thursday when he was struck by a car driven by a 40-year-old man, police said.
Waguk was not in a crosswalk at the time of the accident.
The driver of the car was not hurt.
Waguk was taken to The Queen's Medical Center in critical condition and died about 12 hours later, police said.
