Keola Penovaroff was just seven days away from possibly being paroled when he was fatally shot — allegedly by a friend — Thanksgiving night at a Hilo home.

“He’s a good guy,” said his cousin Van Oscar Penovaroff. “He take care of his kids. He take care of his family. He’s changing his life. He was getting engaged.”

The 39-year-old victim had been an extended-furlough inmate since September 2014 and was scheduled for a parole hearing Thursday, said Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Toni Schwartz. He had been serving time at the Hawaii Community Correctional Center for second-degree assault and unauthorized entry into a motor vehicle.

Penovaroff had three sons and another child from a previous relationship. He was a good mechanic, his cousin said. “He can fix any type of car,” Van Oscar Penovaroff said.

Hawaii County police said patrol officers responded to a 10:20 p.m. call Thursday and found Keola Penovaroff unresponsive, with a gunshot wound, outside a residence at the 100 block of West Kawailani Street.

Police said he was taken to Hilo Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 10:57 p.m.

Police said they are looking for Kalani Lono Kaohimaunu, 34, whom they identified as a suspect in the case. Kaohimaunu’s last known address was in Hilo. He is 5 feet 10 inches tall, weighs 160 pounds and has brown hair.

Kaohimaunu was spotted at 9 a.m. Friday in Kalapana driving a dark blue, four-door Honda sedan with “bling bling rims or hubcaps,” police Capt. Robert Wagner said.

Kaohimaunu was charged in 2005 with first- and second-degree attempted murder, firearm charges and terroristic threatening for allegedly shooting a rifle at three men fleeing in a vehicle in Waimea. He pleaded guilty to first-degree reckless endangering and a Class B felony weapon charge in 2007.

His conviction record includes escape and theft.

Police say Kaohimaunu is known to frequent the Waimea, Hilo and Kalapana areas, where he has ties.

Anyone with information is asked to call police at 935-3311 or contact Detective Todd Pataray at 961-2382 or todd.pataray@hawaiicounty.gov.