Kona man faces slew of charges in connection with incident that involved shooting at an officer

A Kailua-Kona man faces several charges in connection with a Nov. 10 incident in Kona that involved an armed robbery, car crash and shooting at a police officer.

Detectives with the Hawai‘i Police Department, after conferring with the Hawai‘i County Office of the Prosecuting Attorney, on Saturday afternoon charged 27-year-old Dyllan Paulo-Leslie with:

• First-degree attempted murder.
• First-degree robbery.
• Reckless endangering.
• Four counts of ownership or possession of a firearm prohibited.
• Three counts of first-degree terroristic threatening.
• Two counts of carrying or use of firearm in the commission of a separate felony.
• Place to keep pistol or revolver.
• Carrying or possession of a loaded firearm on a public highway.
• Place to keep ammunition.
• Manufacturing, purchasing or obtaining firearm parts to assemble a firearm having no serial number.
• Second-degree theft.
• First-degree criminal property damage.
• Driving without a valid license.
• Inattention to driving.
• Second-degree promoting a dangerous drug.

Paulo-Leslie was also charged for outstanding offenses connected with unrelated incidents, including unauthorized control of a propelled vehicle, first-degree theft and discharge of sureties.

His total bail for the charges connected with the Nov. 10 incident and the outstanding charges was set at $1,553,250.

The most recent charges against Paulo-Leslie stem from an incident reported shortly after 8 p.m. Nov. 10, when Kona patrol officers responded to a report of an active armed robbery at a business in the 73-5000 block of Kauhola Street in the Kaloko Light Industrial Park in Kailua-Kona.

The suspect, described as a man armed with a firearm wearing dark clothing and a face covering, entered the establishment and brandished the firearm. He removed an undisclosed amount of currency money from the service counter area as patrons and employees fled.

The man then left the scene in a gray lifted pickup truck with a female passenger, later identified as 34-year-old Brittany Johnson of Holualoa. As the vehicle fled the area, it was involved in a traffic collision with another vehicle at the intersection of Highway 190 and Hina Lani Street, rendering both vehicles inoperable.

As the first officer arrived at the crash scene, he walked toward the vehicles to check on the occupants and was shot at by the male suspect. According to the Police Department, the bullet narrowly missed the officer and struck the rear driver’s side tire of his patrol vehicle. As the officer called in for assistance, Paulo-Leslie and Johnson fled on foot.

Responding patrol units located the pair a short time later and they were taken into custody without further incident.

The officer was uninjured. The driver of the other vehicle, a 51-year-old female from Kailua-Kona, did not require medical attention at the scene.

The Police Department’s Area II Criminal Investigation Section detectives are continuing to investigate. A search warrant was later served on Paulo-Leslie’s vehicle, where a firearm, ammunition, drugs and items removed from the business during the robbery were recovered.

Paulo-Leslie remains in custody pending his initial court appearance Monday in Kona District Court. Johnson was released, pending investigation.

Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call the Police Department’s nonemergency line at 808-935-3311 or contact Detective Sheldon Nakamoto with the Area II Criminal Investigation Section at 808-326-4646, extension 228, or via email at [email protected].

Those who prefer to remain anonymous can call Crime Stoppers at 808-961-8300.