An off-duty Honolulu police officer was arrested Sunday afternoon for allegedly shooting and wounding a female employee of a South King Street bar. Police said the gun went off by accident.
Sgt. Anson Kimura, a 25-year veteran officer, turned himself in at the main police station and was booked on suspicion of second-degree assault.
He was released pending further investigation. No formal charges have been filed.
Kimura, who is assigned to District 1, which includes Chinatown, also is being investigated by HPD’s Professional Standards Office, whose findings could range from a written reprimand to expulsion from the force, Deputy Police Chief Dave Kajihiro said at a Friday news conference.
The police would not say whether the firearm was his police weapon.
The officer’s police powers have been restricted, Kajihiro said.
Kajihiro said police are investigating whether Kimura was drinking early Friday morning when the woman, a 40-year-old employee of King’s Sports Bar on South King Street, was shot in the stomach.
Kajihiro said a handgun "accidentally discharged" just before 2 a.m.
The officer and the woman are friends, Kajihiro said.
"There was no struggle," he said. "There was no argument."
Kajihiro said police are allowed to carry their firearms when they are off duty but are not supposed to do so while under the influence of alcohol. He said the investigation would seek to determine how much alcohol the officer had consumed.
There were two accidental shootings involving Honolulu police last year, one fatal.
On Aug. 16 officer Jens Magelssen, 39, was showing his handgun to a friend at his home on Sierra Drive when it accidentally discharged, witnesses said. Magelssen died at the Queen’s Medical Center.
On Sept. 6 an officer accidentally discharged his weapon in the bathroom stall of a department store. No one was injured and no charges were filed, but all officers had to undergo safety orientation in the use and handling of HPD-issued handguns.
