The bullet that killed Maui police officer Suzanne O came from a ghost gun and penetrated about an inch above her protective vest, one of her colleagues said Thursday.

Police also released body camera footage from the fatal shooting, which occurred last week in Pāʻia.

“Unfortunately, she had her flashlight in her left hand, and she got shot directly from the left side of her body and it went in about an inch above her ballistic vest,” Detective Jeffrey Calibuso said during an emotional press conference.

O’s killing — the first fatal shooting of a Maui police officer since the 1950s — has been traumatic for those who worked with her.

“This is very much a raw and real deep open wound, and that open wound is going to stay open for a long time, and maybe if we’re lucky, maybe it will close, but it’s going to scar,” said Police Chief John Pelletier.

“We owe it to the men and women of this agency, of this community to do our jobs, because we all raised our right hand and swore to do this job to the best of our ability,” he said. “And it’s the same oath she swore, it’s the same badge she wore, it’s the same uniform she wore.”

Several psychologists and chaplains are available to department employees seeking mental health resources, he said. On Thursday afternoon, leis, flowers, teddy bears and a photo of O covered a police car outside the police station in Wailuku. Periodically, a person would come and place new flowers on the memorial.

Police also said Thursday that the gun used in the shooting was a polymer 80 Glock ghost gun, and that a second gun was recovered from the scene.

O was one of six officers who responded Friday to a call from a Pāʻia groundskeeper who reported that a man was trespassing near the old sugar mill and had fired a gun at him multiple times, Assistant Chief Keola Tom told reporters.

At around 8:30 p.m., the officers were searching the property for the suspect — identified by the police as Clembert Kaneholani — when he shot a gun at O from behind a concrete pillar, striking her in the chest, Calibuso said.

Other officers shot and wounded Kaneholani before taking him into custody, according to a statement provided by the department last week.

Officer Mousa Kawas testified during a court hearing Wednesday that he returned fire to stop the suspect from potentially harming anyone else before officers took him into custody, according to Hawaiʻi News Now. Kaneholani has been charged with first-degree murder in O’s killing, among other offenses.

The body camera footage shows Kawas and other officers walking through a field of tall grass and using flashlights to search behind water tanks and cement walls when Kaneholani fired his weapon. There was a sudden and explosive “boom,” followed by O’s screams.

Kawas flinched as a voice came over his body-worn radio and shouted, “Shots fired! Shots fired!” Then he ran toward the area where O was lying in the grass on her stomach.

When he spotted Kaneholani, he pointed his gun at him and yelled at him to get down and to show his hands. “Don’t fucking move!” he shouted, before the footage stops.

Kawas “used the force necessary to stop and incapacitate the threat,” and displayed “an absolute, incredible show of restraint by placing that suspect in custody so they can stand trial,” Pelletier said. 

“We make split-second decisions in dynamic, rapidly evolving incidents, and this incident demonstrates the very real dangers of the police profession,” he said.

The shooting highlighted the importance of restricting access to firearms for those who have been convicted of felonies or who have temporary restraining orders filed against them, Pelletier said, and those who possess guns illegally should be severely punished. 

“People should be in fear of the criminal justice process. Probation or light sentences is absolutely ridiculous. That’s wrong,” he said. “You look at all of the details that we know about the suspect that’s been released at this time, and that individual should not have a gun.”

O joined the Maui Police Department in 2020, working in the Kīhei Patrol District before moving to the Wailuku Patrol District in December 2021, according to the statement from the department. She was a member of the Honor Guard and was awarded the Certificate of Merit for her work Upcountry during the Aug. 8, 2023, wildfires.

“She was the finest of us. That is not an understatement,” Pelletier said. “She helped out wherever she could. I don’t know anybody that ever said an unkind thing about her. She was an absolute rising star in this department and this community, and she served with honor and distinction.”

A candlelight memorial is planned for 7:30 p.m. Friday at the police station in Wailuku, Pelletier said.  

Civil Beat’s coverage of Maui County is supported in part by a grant from the Nuestro Futuro Foundation.