Posted at 10:28 a.m., Thursday, November 8, 2001

Big Island farmer shot while checking for thieves

Advertiser Staff

PAHALA, Hawai'i — A 61-year-old Ka'u farmer was shot while patrolling his fields last night and was flown to Honolulu for surgery.

Police, who identified the man as Ruby Javar of Pahala, were alerted to the shooting at 8 p.m. Javar and a 65-year-old male friend had gone out an hour earlier to check the vegetable farm, above Pahala, because of previous problems with property damage and crop theft.

Javar's companion heard a shot and found him wounded in the left leg. He took Javar to Pahala Hospital, where he was treated and then taken to Hilo Medical Center. A Hilo hospital nursing supervisor said he was flown last night to Queen's Medical Center. A Queen's spokesman declined to release information.

Kona detectives are investigating the incident as an assault and reckless endangering case. No suspects have been identified.