Hawaii Island Police ended a tense situation yesterday with the arrest of Shawn Edward Page, a 58-year-old man engaged in a day-long armed standoff in Volcano. The barricade started last Wednesday morning, when Puna patrol officers responded to a report of illegal occupancy at a supposed vacant residence on Nahelenani Street. According to KITV, upon arrival, officers determined that the man inside was Page, who was wanted for questioning over a previous incident involving his dog.
Despite the attempts to communicate and negotiate, Page became uncooperative, firing at officers several times from inside the residence. The standoff continued throughout the night with efforts to have Page surrender peacefully, during which he shot at law enforcement on three separate occasions. One officer was injured, receiving a large cut from broken window glass, while another officer returned fire, fortunately without hitting Page, as reported by West Hawaii Today.
The officer involved in returning fire, a 14-year veteran primarily assigned to the Vice Section, will be put on paid administrative leave. "The point of this administrative leave is not to accuse the officer or to try to initiate a criminal case," Chief Benjamin Moszkowicz told West Hawaii Today, "The point of the administrative leave is to give the officer a chance to recover and recuperate from this critical incident that they just went through."
Yesterday morning, following the retreat of SRT members for safety, a perimeter was expanded and Page was located hiding in vegetation several hundred yards from the scene at 10:16 a.m. He was in possession of a loaded pistol at the time of arrest. Afterward, a search of the residence turned up a potential homemade explosive device, leading to an immediate evacuation and a wait for bomb tech experts to respond. While the scene was secured by police, the dog inside the residence was found to be uninjured. Page, now facing charges for first-degree attempted murder and trespassing, was treated for minor injuries and is being held at the East Hawaii Detection Center in Hilo as the investigation continues, as indicated by KITV.
Authorities are asking anyone with information related to the incident to contact Detective Amy Omaya. Chief Moszkowicz emphasized that the incident in Volcano was unrelated to another incident in nearby Fern Forest, which involved the search for a different armed and dangerous fugitive. The search for the fugitive in Fern Forest continues, with authorities yet to make an arrest, according to West Hawaii Today.
