A snorkeler experienced a close call with a shark Thursday in West Maui.
The 46-year-old woman was snorkeling in murky water late Thursday morning with a group about a half-mile off Olowalu when she felt a tug on her fin and looked back to see a gray shark swimming away, according to the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.
“She was treated on the boat for a minor injury to her foot,” department spokeswoman Deborah Ward said.
The Teralani 2 tour company said an onboard employee saw an 8-foot tiger shark swimming away.
State officials posted shark warning signs from Lone Pine to the Olowalu Recycling Center.
The signs are expected to remain up until noon Friday, when officials will reassess the situation.
Ocean safety officials were on a watercraft warning ocean users about the shark.
Olowalu is a popular snorkeling area because of its pristine reefs and abundance of turtles.
The Olowalu area is also the only place in the state that has permanent shark warning signs posted, after quite a few shark attacks, including one that killed Maui resident Marti Morrell in 1991.
Charges filed in summit incident
Hawaii County authorities Thursday charged a 30-year-old Kailua-Kona man who allegedly broke into a Mauna Kea facility Tuesday and allegedly tried to ram a ranger’s vehicle.
James Coleman was charged with second-degree burglary, first-degree criminal property damage, attempted first-degree criminal property damage, two counts of second-degreecriminal property damage and two counts of second-degree terroristic threatening. Bail was set at $84,000.
Officers responded at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday to a report of a traffic accident involving a disorderly man near the summit of Mauna Kea at the Very Long Baseline Array facility.
Police said they learned that Coleman forcibly gained entry into the facility while employees were barricaded inside and then tried to ram the vehicle of a ranger from the Office ofMauna Kea Management who tried to intervene.
Kona man held in wife’s death
Hawaii County police arrested a 70-year-old Kona man whose wife was found dead Thursday morning in a Kona Highlands subdivision home.
The man was arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder, but he has not been charged.
Officers responded to the report of a woman with a gunshot wound and found her unresponsive with a fatal gunshot wound to her head at a home on the 73-1200 block of MahilaniDrive.
Police identified the woman as 62-year-old Marsha Mansker of Kailua-Kona.
