© 2024 Hawaiʻi Public Radio
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

DLNR: Vandals Who Shot Paintballs at Olowalu Petroglyphs Still Not Found

Department of Land and Natural Resources

The state Department of Land and Natural Resources was notified of serious vandalism on the Olowalu Petroglyphs on Maui last week—and the suspects have not yet been found.

The department said someone with a paintball gun fired shots onto the dark cliff also called Puʻu Kilea. The face of the basalt cliff is etched with about 100 petroglyphs that are over 300 years old. The images are believed to represent early Hawaiian legends.

Olowalu is also the historical site of a massacre against Native Hawaiians.

In 1790, American Captain Simon Metcalfe fired cannons at Hawaiian canoes for a stolen boat and the murder of one of his night watchmen. More than 100 Native Hawaiians died and over 200 suffered serious injuries.

The massacre prompted Chief Kame'eiamoku to attack the next Western ship that arrived.

Four out of the five men on board were killed, including Metcalfe's son. One crew member, Isaac Davis, was spared. He would later become King Kamehameha I's military advisor.

Thus, Olowalu is an important cultural and historical site. Now, white and yellow splotches from a paintball gun have defaced the surface of the cliff. The person or persons who committed the vandalism have not yet been found.

"What we’re looking at up here, I would imagine several hundred paintballs that were shot at this historical site," said John Yamamoto, a lieutenant with the DLNR Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement. "It caused some paint to end up on some of the petroglyphs up here."

He said the vandalism appeared random and the paintball gun was likely fired from down on the road.

"It’s sad to see. It’s kind of hurtful," Yamamoto said.

If you have any information about this incident, call the Maui DLNR office at 808-873-3990. Anonymous tips can be given to the 24-hour DOCARE hotline at 808-643-DLNR(3567) or via the DLNRTip app on Android and Apple devices.

Zoe Dym was a news producer at Hawaiʻi Public Radio.
Related Stories