Former isle resident lied to FBI, jury finds
NEW YORK » A former Hawaii man has been convicted of lying to the FBI about plans to team up with the Taliban or al-Qaida.
A jury on Monday found Abdel Hameed Shehadeh guilty in federal court in Brooklyn.
Friends of Shehadeh testified that he spoke of wanting to die while waging violent jihad, or holy war, abroad against the U.S. military. They said the former Staten Island resident had hoped to attend a terrorist training camp in Pakistan.
The defendant first drew the attention of the FBI in 2008 when he bought a one-way plane ticket to Islamabad. Prosecutors say he later lied by saying he was going to get religious training.
FBI agents arrested Shehadeh in October 2010 at his home in Honolulu. He is a U.S. citizen who was born and raised in New York.
Shehadeh faces up to 21 years in prison at sentencing. No date has been set.
Gun threats lead to Puna standoff and a jail stay
A 55-year-old man alleged to have multiple firearms surrendered without incident to Hawaii County police Tuesday following a seven-hour standoff at a house in the Eden Roc subdivision in the Puna District, police said.
Officers from the Puna station responded shortly before 9 a.m. to a call of a 55-year-old man who was allegedly using a gun to threaten people in a house on Ahi Avenue. The man refused to surrender to the officers, so the Police Department called in its Special Response Team tactical unit.
At some point a 35-year-old relative managed to leave the house, police said. Officers spoke with the armed man, who surrendered at about 3:45 p.m. His wife, 55, was found in the house unharmed.
The man was arrested and placed in the Hilo cellblock; he is under investigation for first-degree unlawful imprisonment and first-degree terroristic threatening.
Lighthouse work to shut refuge for one week
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will close the Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge from Sunday through April 7 while workers conduct the third and final phase of restoration of the historic 1913 lighthouse, which began in 2011.
Work will include repairs to one of the lighthouse’s Fresnel lenses and installing safety features.
The refuge will hold a Lighthouse Day on May 4 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the lighthouse. Details will be posted at www.kilaueapoint.org or www.facebook.com/kilauealighthouse.
The refuge will be reopened 10 a.m. April 8.
