Big Island man gets 20 years for charges connected to shooting girlfriend, subsequent manhunt

A Big Island man was sentenced Friday to 20 years in prison for several charges related to him shooting his girlfriend with a shotgun in March 2023 and operating a stolen vehicle several days later during a high-speed chase through a North Hawai‘i community.

The sentence for 45-year-old Ronald P.K. Kahihikolo of Ocean View was handed down in Kona Circuit Court.

Kahihikolo pleaded no contest Feb. 27 to charges of first-degree attempted assault and carrying or use of a firearm in the commission of a separate felony.

The charges stem from a March 7, 2023, domestic dispute at a residence in the 92-2000 block of Outrigger Drive in Ocean View, during which he shot his then-42-year-old girlfriend.

Kahihikolo also pleaded no contest to charges of first-degree unauthorized control of a propelled vehicle and first-degree resisting an order to stop for disregarding police attempts to stop and arrest him during a high-speed chase through Waimea.

Kahihikolo was driving a stolen Dodge Charger at the time.

The Ocean View man was on the lam for a total of about five days before he was taken into custody late in the morning March 11, 2023.