Police identified a man killed in an officer-involved shooting Friday in Hilo as 31-year-old Daniel Buckingham.
Police say Buckingham had lived on Hawaii Island for about a year-and-a-half but didn’t have a permanent address. The Ann Arbor, Mich., native was previously living on Kauai from at least 2007, court records indicate.
Officers responded at about 11:40 a.m. to a residential alarm on the 1800 block of Kilauea Avenue. Arriving officers found a broken rear window at the home, which was reportedly unoccupied.
Upon learning from neighbors no one was supposed to be inside, police entered the home and announced their presence several times. After finding a locked bedroom door, they left the home and checked the perimeter of the property, according to police.
After re-entering and breaking into the locked bedroom, officers were confronted by Buckingham, who, according to police, was “armed with a pocket knife and a much larger knife.”
Buckingham allegedly used the larger knife to slash an officer on the forearm. Two of the officers fired their duty weapons, killing Buckingham, police said.
Body camera video released by police shows the officers identifying themselves. Some action occurred that wasn’t caught clearly by the camera, and 13 shots could be heard in rapid succession.
The video then showed the injured officer going outside and another officer applying a tourniquet to the officer’s right arm, which had a large laceration.
The injured officer was taken to Hilo Medical Center, where he was treated and released.
At the time of the shooting, Buckingham was facing charges of first-degree burglary and fourth-degree theft for allegedly entering a home on Pahoa-Kalapana Road near Leilani Estates on June 15 and stealing shoes and food.
Buckingham appeared in Hilo District Court the following day, and Judge Kanani Laubach granted him supervised release over the objection of the prosecutor, who sought to maintain Buckingham’s $5,000 bail.
He was scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing June 30, but prosecutors filed a motion Wednesday to dismiss the charges.
Police said they are continuing an attempted first-degree murder investigation into the knife attack. The Office of Professional Standards — the department’s internal affairs unit — also is continuing an internal investigation into the shooting, police said.
An autopsy performed on Buckingham’s body Tuesday determined he died of multiple gunshot wounds to the body, with several of the shots being fatal. The final autopsy report is pending toxicology results.
