A 20-year-old Kona man has died from injuries he received in a domestic dispute on June 21.
Ezra Barro of Kailua-Kona was pronounced dead at 4:44 a.m. Sunday at Kaiser Medical Center on Oahu, according to the Hawaii Police Department. The Honolulu Medical Examiner’s office will conduct an autopsy to determine the exact cause of death.
The case will be reclassified from a first-degree assault to a manslaughter case. Detectives from the department’s Area II Criminal Investigations Division are continuing the investigation.
On the night of June 21, Kona Patrol officers were at Kona Community Hospital for an unrelated case when Barro arrived in a private vehicle and was taken to the emergency room with a laceration to his left forearm. Investigation revealed that he had received the injury during a domestic altercation at a home on Awakea Street in Kailua-Kona.
“Police did recover a knife at the scene the night of the incident,” Lt. Gerald Wike of the Kona Criminal Investigations Section said Monday afternoon.
Barro was later transferred to Oahu in critical condition.
Shortly after midnight, officers arrested 18-year-old Synise Santos of Kailua-Kona at the scene on suspicion of first-degree assault and abuse of a family/household member. On June 23, after conferring with prosecutors, detectives released Santos while the investigation continues.
Detectives have initiated a second abuse investigation with Santos as the victim.