Attorney: Hilo officer was shot by other officer

HILO, Hawaii (AP) - The attorney representing a man accused of shooting two Hilo police officers, wounding them, is contending at trial that one of the officers was shot by the other.

Keaka Martin, 32, is on trial for attempted murder. He is accused of shooting officers Joshua Gouveia and Garrett Hatada when they responded to a report of a man hiding under a vehicle last year. They were wounded in their legs and have returned to duty.

Court-appointed defense attorney Steve Strauss said in his opening statement Thursday that it was too dark to properly identify the shooter, and that police “quickly settled” on Martin as the suspect without looking into information about other possible suspects, the Hawaii Tribune-Herald reported (https://ow.ly/u6Utg ).

Gouveia was “in the direct line of fire” of Hatada’s two shots, “neither of which hit the suspect,” Strauss said. The bullet was never removed from Gouveia’s body, so ballistics tests couldn’t be done.

“The evidence reasonably supports the conclusion that Officer Hatada shot Officer Gouveia,” Strauss said.

Hawaii County Corporation Counsel, which provides legal services for the county and its employees, is advising Hatada not to comment on Strauss’ claims because of the ongoing litigation.

As for how Hatada was shot, Strauss said: “The evidence will show that there was a suspect under that van, and that suspect fired a weapon.” Hatada was hit by a round from the suspect’s weapon, but the suspect never intended to kill Hatada, Strauss said.

Martin was arrested after a massive manhunt. Police said at the time he was found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his chest at a Hilo home.

Gouveia testified that he saw a tattooed man under the vehicle, but didn’t get a good look at his face. The man pulled a gun from his waistband and shot him in the thigh.

“I thought that the bullet might have hit an artery,” Gouveia said. “I started hyperventilating.”

The trial resumes Monday.

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Information from: Hawaii Tribune-Herald, https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/