Big Isle officers shoot and kill armed fugitive in parking lot

An armed fugitive was shot and killed by Hawaii County police Tuesday night in Hilo — the second fatal police shooting within a week.

Police identified the fugitive as Scottie Yanagawa of Puna and said he shot first at police, firing one round.

The shooting took place in a Walmart store parking lot at the Waiakea Shopping Center around 10:40 p.m. Tuesday, police said. A 30-year-old Pahoa woman was arrested at the scene.

In another officer-involved shooting Friday in Hilo, officers shot and killed a 38-year-old man who was a suspect in a Dec. 29 attempted-murder case. A female passenger in the vehicle the suspect was driving was critically injured.

“There is no reason or correlation between them (the shootings),” said police Maj. Randy Apele, who declined to comment further on the two officer-involved shootings.

In Yanagawa’s case, the 29-year-old was wanted by police for questioning in connection with a Jan. 31 shooting at Honolii and for furlough escape from Hale Nani Correctional Facility on Nov. 19.

On Nov. 20, police released a photo of Yanagawa, who had last been spotted at the correctional facility a day earlier. Police said they considered Yanagawa to be armed and dangerous.

On Tuesday night, police said, officers stopped a Toyota minivan that Yanagawa was reported to have used in the past. The occupants of the vehicle, a female driver and male front-seat passenger, were ordered to leave the vehicle.

While exiting the vehicle, the male passenger drew a handgun and fired a round, police said. Officers returned fire, fatally injuring the man.

The woman was uninjured and arrested on suspicion of hindering prosecution for aiding a wanted fugitive. She is being held at the Hilo police cellblock pending further investigation.

The four officers who fired their weapons have 14, 12, seven and six years of experience. They have been placed on administrative leave.

Yanagawa’s felony conviction record includes two first-degree burglaries, in 2014 and in 2009, and a second-degree theft in 2014.

Both criminal and administrative hearings have been initiated.

Police ask anyone who witnessed the incident to contact Detective Joel Field at 961-2361.

In the Friday incident, Ronald Barawis Jr., who was wanted by police, was shot and killed in a McDonald’s parking lot at the Puainako Shopping Center. Barawis had a shotgun, rifle and two semiautomatic guns within reach in the car he was driving, police said.

Barawis tried to evade police and allegedly drove at an officer before ramming two police vehicles, police said.

Both Barawis and his passenger, a 28-year-old Mountain View woman, sustained several gunshot wounds, police said.

The officers who fired their weapons have 20, 15 and six years of experience, and were placed on paid administrative leave.

Criminal and administrative investigations by the department’s professional standards division have been initiated.

Star-Advertiser reporter Leila Fujimori contributed to this report.