Hawai‘i Island police have initiated a homicide investigation in the Hawaiian Beaches subdivision in Puna.
 
Yesterday, Puna patrol officers responded to a residence on Kawakawa Street after receiving a report of an elderly man seated in a wheelchair and bleeding from his neck. Responding officers located the victim, 87-year-old Charles Hacker of Pāhoa, seated in a walker-seat in his driveway. He was found unconscious and was bleeding from a laceration-type injury to his neck.
 
HPD and rescue personnel attempted life-saving measures on Hacker who was later transported to Hilo Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.  An autopsy is scheduled for Friday, July 1, to determine the exact cause of death.
 
Detectives from the Area I Criminal Investigation Section responded to the scene and are continuing this investigation, which is classified as a second-degree murder.
 
While at the scene, police received information identifying a suspect in this investigation. Shortly thereafter, police took a 33-year-old male neighbor of the victim into custody on suspicion of second-degree murder.
 
Police ask anyone with information on this incident, or who may have been in the area of Kawakawa Street on Wednesday morning between 9 and 10 a.m., to contact Detective Blaine Morishita of the Area I Criminal Investigation Section at (808) 961-2385 or email him at Blaine.Morishita@hawaiicounty.gov. They can also email Lt. Rio Amon-Wilkins of the Area I Criminal Investigation Section at Rio.Amon-Wilkins@hawaiicounty,gov.