A 38-year-old man, accused of fatally shooting 19-year-old Triston Billimon the night of June 18 in a road rage incident near the Likelike offramp in Kalihi, was found guilty of second-degree murder.

Eddieson Reyes appeared stunned when Oahu Circuit Judge Faauuga Tootoo handed down the verdict Thursday afternoon after a jury-waived trial, finding him guilty on all charges of murder, two firearm charges and first-degree terroristic threatening.

Reyes, wearing striped prison garb, shook his head as the verdict was read, then turned to his lawyer, Eric Seitz, apparently for answers. He faces a possible life sentence without the possibility of parole when he is sentenced Aug. 10.

The case was set to be tried by a jury commencing May 3, but Reyes volunteered April 12 to waive his right to a jury trial in favor of a trial by judge.

Judge Tootoo said Thursday he had reviewed all the evidence, which he summarized in detail.

Billimon’s young widow, who was in the gallery with more than a dozen family and friends when the verdict was read, cried outside the courtroom, but not out of a sense of relief.

“It’s a reminder of everything that happened,” said Janine Billimon, who was in the car when her husband of six months was fatally shot. They had been together for three years.

In his detailed summary of the evidence, Tootoo said that at the time of the shooting, Janine Billimon ducked under the glove compartment and did not see the shooter, but two other witnesses saw and identified Reyes.

Billimon and her husband were headed home June 18 on the H-1 freeway in their BMW from Wahiawa when she noticed a white Acura weaving in and out of the lanes as they were approaching the Middle Street area.

Triston Billimon tried to avoid the car by driving around it, trying to pass it and at times tried to go faster, but the white car got “closer to their car the whole time” and came close to the passenger side of the car, where Janine Billimon sat.

The Acura driver, who wore a white tank top and looked pretty young, with a mustache and small beard, pointed a gun at Janine Billimon, she testified.

She also testified that the Acura would cut them off if they tried to pass it.

The Acura then drove to her husband’s side of their car, and the passenger pointed a gun at him.

“Triston tried to speed off again, and now we’re closer by the Likelike offramp,” said the judge, reading Janine Billimon’s testimony. “The white Acura drove up close to Triston’s window,” and the cars were “side by side.”

The Acura then drove in front of the BMW as both vehicles got onto the offramp, and the Acura suddenly braked and the BMW stopped behind it.

Triston Billimon tried to drive around the Acura but could not. That’s when his wife ducked and heard the gunshot. She got out of the car to get help, but noticed her husband did not move and ran to his side of the car. There she found a bullet hole through the window.

She opened the door, pulled him toward her and noticed he was bleeding from his side.

Witness Leon Pacatan, a passenger in a car on the H-1 eastbound near the Middle Street merge, noticed a white Acura and a BMW behind his car speeding and weaving through traffic.

He told his roommate, who was driving, to be careful and let the cars pass. They also took the Likelike cutoff and, at the top, saw the two cars stopped.

Pacatan said their car was just a few feet behind the BMW, and testified he saw Reyes exit the white car with a gun in his hand, walk up to the driver’s side of the BMW and shoot the driver through the window.

He clearly saw his face lit up by lights above, and feared he and his roommate might also be targeted by the gunman, who he described as in his mid-30s, with a medium build, a crew cut, and wearing a white tank top.

Another witness, Miguel Cadoy, happened to drive up and see the three cars stopped at the top of the offramp. He said he thought he heard a gunshot, then saw the Acura speed off with no lights on.

Minutes later he spotted the Acura parked on Nalanieha Street off Likelike Highway and saw Reyes, wearing a white tank top, with another male. A video from a church across the street showed the white car pull up and park, and a man resembling Reyes exit the Acura.

But Reyes showed up at the police station wearing a black T-shirt.

Cadoy called 911 minutes after the 11 p.m. shooting. Reyes called 911 at 11:16 p.m. GPS coordinates showed he was calling from Likelike Highway, a half-mile from the scene of the shooting.

A police sergeant testified he responded to Cadoy’s 911 call, drove up Likelike Highway and saw someone matching the shooter’s description walking down the highway in the bushes toward the police station. The sergeant made a U-turn but lost him.

Twenty minutes later Reyes reported that while he was urinating outside his car, someone jumped into his car and stole it in the Kamehameha IV area, but changed his story to a different location.

The discrepancy in his clothing and the lack of gunshot residue also could be explained by a simple washing of his hands and a change of clothes, which he had a half-hour to do, the judge said. He also told the 911 dispatcher he was walking in a certain direction to the Kalihi police station, but surveillance video showed he came from the opposite direction.

The judge said, according to the defense, that the defendant was not the shooter.

Pacatan testified he saw Reyes shoot Billimon with his right hand, but a detective on cross-examination said he was unable to determine whether Reyes was right-handed because “he did not want to speak with us.’”

Seitz argued there was no gunshot residue on his hands, no DNA and no fingerprints.

But as experts testified at trial, any residue could have been washed off, given the amount of time he had, worn gloves, or particles could have fallen off.

Tootoo said, “It is the court’s other job to look at this evidence and draw reasonable inferences as to what would have happened.”

Seitz said he was too angry to speak right after the verdict. However, he said later he will appeal the verdict, citing the witness who said the shooter held the gun in his right hand, but his client is left-handed, The Associated Press reported.

Honolulu Prosecutor Steve Alm said: “The Department is very pleased with the verdict and hopes that it brings some amount of closure to the victim’s family.

“This verdict sends a strong message that senseless violence like the kind committed by Reyes will not be tolerated in our community.

“The public will now be protected from Reyes’ dangerous behavior for many years to come.”