Hawaii Fire Department Emergency Medical Services personnel responded to two fatal police-involved shootings in Hilo within a week — one June 13 in Wainaku and the second Friday at a vacant Kilauea Avenue home on Hilo’s southern outskirts.
In the Sunday night shooting of 34-year-old man whom police say shot at officers who responded to a report of a domestic violence incident, the first firefighter/medic on scene was the recently appointed fire chief, Kazuo Todd, whose home is on Mokuhonua Lane, the same street the shooting occurred. The shooter, Ryan Santos, was killed by a single gunshot to the shoulder area, police said, while Santos’ 91-year-old grandfather, Ichiro “Bobby” Nakamura, died of a heart attack suffered during the incident.
Officers found four firearms at the scene, an AR-15 “ghost gun” without a serial number and a bolt action rifle, plus two long guns, at least one of them a shotgun, inside the residence.