LESTER CHANG and
DENNIS FUJIMOTO – TGI Staff Writers
MANA – Imaginary culprits in the supposed shooting of a Navy guard were chased Thursday afternoon along the Mana Plain by Navy helicopters and a contingent of 30 Kaua’i police officers .
Visions of terrorists in dark clothing striking the Navy’s strategic Pacific Missile Range Facility were easily dreamed up by more than one local resident.
The illusionary security breach blew up with a pop early Friday evening when the KPD announced the arrest of a 19-year-old PMRF sailor and guard, Anthony Charles Bass.
The manhunt was quickly called off on the Westside late Friday afternoon after the sailor was arrested for allegedly shooting himself in an outlying area of the Navy base.
Bass was arrested late Thursday afternoon by the Kaua’i Police Department for false reporting, according to Cyndi Ozaki, the County of Kaua’i’s Public Information Officer.
He was later turned over to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, Lt. Cmdr. Jane Campbell said.
The Navy’s investigation into the circumstances surrounding the shooting was continuing, she said.
The incident was initially reported as an accidental shooting, according to communications heard on a police scanner.
Lt. Roy Asher of the Kaua’i Police Department, who heads the Waimea police substation, was on the scene to assist in the search and to begin an investigation into the shooting incident.
Police presence in the area was conspicuous, according to a witness at the scene, who said, “there are lot of cop cars rolling up and down the road through Waimea and Kekaha.”
Prior to Bass’ admission the KPD and the Navy began a manhunt for “two local males in black shirts on foot,” according to a report from the scene outside the base.
Ozaki said it appeared the male victim suffered a gunshot wound to the body in the incident, reported around 1:45 p.m. Friday afternoon.
The sailor was treated at the Kauai Veterans Memorial Hospital in Waimea and released Thursday afternoon, according to the Navy Region Hawaii Public Affairs Office. He was reported to be wearing a protective vest.
The Navy provided aircraft from PMRF to help in the manhunt.
The incident took place outside the gates of PMRF, but on Navy property at an outlying location.
Agents from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service based on O’ahu were flown to PMRF Friday afternoon to assist in the investigation.
All outgoing vehicles from the main PMRF base were being searched for the imaginary suspects on Thursday afternoon.
A Kekaha landowner doing landscaping work near the foot of Koke’e Road said vehicles were also being stopped before heading up to Koke’e.
Roadblocks were set up on roads around the base, according to a witness. Access to Polihale State Beach was closed as well.
Police also turned back motorists headed to the beach and searched vehicles that were leaving it, according to a witness.
A military helicopter was dispatched at 2 p.m. to conduct a search from the west end of the base “to the caves” areas in areas mauka of the base at the foot of the mountainside leading down from Koke’e.
According to a witness, the helicopter was “flying low” and crawling” while searching the base of Makaha Ridge for the two suspects.
The missile range is the site of launches in the Navy’s missile defense test program.
The Garden Island editor Chris Cook contributed to this report.
