Hawaii island police have identified the man police shot and killed in a McDonald’s restaurant drive-thru early Friday morning as Ronald Barawis Jr., 38, of Kailua-Kona.
Barawis, who was being sought for questioning in a Dec. 29 attempted murder case, tried to evade police early Friday morning and allegedly drove at an officer and rammed two police vehicles, police said.
His front-seat passenger, a 28-year-old woman from Mountain View, was critically injured. She was taken to Hilo Medical Center and later transported to the Queen’s Medical Center on Oahu, where she remains in critical but stable condition, police said late Friday afternoon.
Both Barawis and the woman sustained several gunshot wounds, police said.
Officers saw a shotgun, an assault-type rifle and two semi-automatic handguns within Barawis’ reach inside the vehicle, and a bulletproof-type vest on the backrest of the driver’s seat, police said in a news release Friday.
The shooting occurred just after midnight at a shopping center off Kanoelehua Avenue in Hilo.
The incident began at 12:20 a.m. when officers were looking for a fugitive from an incident in Kona last month who was known to be armed and dangerous.
Hilo police gave the following details:
Officers located the suspect, who was driving a vehicle, at a McDonald’s restaurant, which was closed.
The suspect was ordered to step out of the vehicle. Instead, he allegedly drove over the curb of the drive-thru, accelerated, drove directly at an officer and then rammed into two police vehicles, police said.
Three police officers fired at the vehicle, killing the driver and injuring the passenger, according to the police account.
No one else was injured in this incident.
The officers who fired their weapons have 20, 15 and six years of experience, and were placed on paid administrative leave.
As is standard practice in any police-involved shooting, a criminal investigation and an administrative investigation by the department’s professional-standards division have been initiated.
Barawis, who had a tattoo covering most of the right side of his face, is featured in an episode of the Crime
Stoppers TV show, “Hawaii Island’s Most Wanted,” that was to air Friday.
He was wanted for questioning in a Dec. 29 attempted murder, which occurred in the upper Kaumana Drive area of Hilo. In that incident a 23-year-old Keaau man, who was a passenger in a Toyota Tacoma pickup truck, reported being shot at by occupants of a white sedan. The truck sustained damage from the gunshots. The case is being investigated as one count of first-degree attempted murder and two counts of second-degree attempted murder.
Police had issued a
Jan. 20 news release saying Barawis was wanted on two bench warrants for violating parole and failure to appear, and may have been armed and dangerous. His criminal record includes a 2002 first-degree attempted assault, three weapon charges (including a Class A felony) and three burglaries.
Police are asking anyone who witnessed Friday’s shooting to contact Detective Grant Todd at 961-2385 or Detective Dean Uyetake at 961-2379. Tipsters who prefer to remain anonymous may call CrimeStoppers at 961-8300.
