Posted on: Monday, August 13, 2001

Arrow shot by son kills sheep hunter

By Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writer

A man from Kailua, Kona was killed yesterday in what police said was a hunting accident at Pu'uwa'awa'a Ranch on the Big Island.

Police said 44-year-old Thomas Depontes died after being shot in the chest with a hunting arrow while hunting wild sheep with his two sons in the Pu'uwa'awa'a Ranch area of South Kohala, police said.

His son Thomas, 18, shot an arrow at a sheep and missed, but the arrow ricocheted off a rock and struck the father in the upper chest.

Witnesses said Depontes pulled the arrow out, walked a few steps and then collapsed.

Hunters drove him to the Rangers' check-in station on Hawai'i Belt Road. Rescue personnel picked him up there and drove him to the North Hawai'i Community Hospital in Waimea.

Depontes was pronounced dead at 2:40 p.m.