WAILUKU, Hawaiʻi — A Maui police officer shot a man who charged at him with a long object raised above his head and ignored commands to stop, according to body-camera footage.
The officer yelled “stop,” at least five times before firing his gun, The Maui News reported Wednesday. The footage released by police Tuesday stops at that point.
The 29-year-old man was taken to a hospital where he died.
Officers responded to a report of a suicidal man at a Kahului home Thursday night, according to a Maui police news release. The first officer who arrived found the man wielding a weapon over his head. The officer fired his gun when the man moved toward him, police said.
The last shooting that involved an officer for the Maui Police Department was in 2018.
Police didn't provide additional details about the item the man wielded, other than calling it a “long-pointed object" and didn't allow any questions about the incident during a Tuesday news conference, the Maui newspaper reported.
Hawaii News Now reported the man’s mother said he was holding a knife sharpener.
The officer was placed on administrative leave.
