Posted at 9:20 p.m., Friday, March 9, 2007
Police charge Waikoloa man with murder in shooting
Advertiser Staff
Hawai'i County police today charged a 53-year-old Waikoloa man with shooting a co-worker to death in a Waikoloa parking lot Thursday afternoon.Lito Mateo was being held on $500,000 bail. He was charged with second-degree murder and using a firearm in a felony.
Police yesterday identified the victim as Tito Rafol, 38, of Waikoloa. Rafol was found with gunshot wounds to his head, neck and back in an employee parking lot at the Kings' Shops on Waikoloa Beach Drive, police said.
The shooting was reported at 4:07 p.m. Medical personnel pronounced Rafol dead at the scene.
Mateo turned himself in to security guards. Police recovered a handgun believed to have been used in the shooting.
The victim and suspect were co-workers, police said. Police were investigating a possible motive for the shooting.
Detectives with the Area II Criminal Investigations Section are assigned to the investigation.
