The man shot and critically injured by Honolulu police on Tuesday in Mākaha had been wanted for a previous assault on a law enforcement officer, Chief Joe Logan said at a media briefing Wednesday.

The 38-year-old man, whose name is being withheld by police, rammed an unmarked police vehicle that was following him, setting it on fire. Both officers in the car opened fire, injuring the suspect, Logan said.

It was the second police shooting on Oʻahu in less than a week, and comes as Honolulu police have been trying to ramp down increasing violence on the Westside in the past year.

Logan led the press conference Wednesday to explain more about what had happened in Mākaha the day before.

He said the man was driving a stolen white Ford pickup truck in the area of Hana Street when officers with the Honolulu Police Department’s crime reduction unit began following him in an unmarked vehicle at around 3:45 p.m.

The officers turned on the car’s police lights and tried to initiate a stop as the man turned onto Hana Street. He suddenly reversed the vehicle and rammed into the officers’ car, causing it to catch fire. He continued accelerating into the officers’ vehicle, Logan said. 

One officer got out of the vehicle while the other remained trapped inside. Both officers shot at the suspect multiple times. Logan said he did not know how long the second officer was trapped. 

The suspect was not armed, though Logan said police are still investigating whether he had a weapon in the vehicle he was driving. 

Paramedics transported the suspect to The Queen’s Medical Center. He remained hospitalized as of Wednesday afternoon. 

Logan declined to release his name but said he had been wanted for a previous assault on a law enforcement officer on June 7. He also had three prior felony convictions and three outstanding felony warrants.

Police arrest records show a 38-year-old man named Iosua Stevens was arrested just after 4:15 p.m. on Hana Street on suspicion of unauthorized control of a propelled vehicle, two counts of attempted murder on a law enforcement officer and and four counts of criminal contempt of court.

Court records show Stevens has multiple criminal cases in which he is the defendant.

The two officers had lacerations and minor abrasions and were treated and released from the hospital the same day, Logan said. They have been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation into the incident. 

Logan said the officers were not wearing body cameras because they are part of a plainclothes unit, but police investigators are trying to gather video of the incident, such as from nearby surveillance cameras. 

In a separate officer-involved shooting this week, police shot and killed a man who had barricaded himself inside a boat at Keʻehi Boat Harbor off Sand Island Access Road early Sunday morning. He pointed a shotgun-style firearm at officers who were 15 to 20 feet away from him on the pier before he was shot. 

The Honolulu Medical Examiner’s Office identified him Wednesday as 37-year-old Christian Latimore. 

The shooting in Mākaha comes about eight months after police increased their focus on the Westside following three shootings in the span of 10 days last August. The department ramped up patrols and sent additional officers to the district to conduct special operations, including traffic enforcement, through the end of last year. 

But recent violent crime in the area, including a shooting in late May that left a 19-year-old dead, has shaken residents. 

Logan said he did not know what the current police staffing levels are in District 8, which stretches from ʻEwa Beach to Kaʻena Point. But he said he planned to discuss whether additional resources should be again directed to West Oʻahu.