PAHOA, Hawaii: Authorities are asking for the public’s help in an alleged rock throwing case in Puna.

From the HPD media release:

Big Island police are looking for witnesses to a large rock being thrown at a moving motor vehicle.

A 59-year-old Pāhoa man reported that he was driving a van on Highway 130 near Pāhoa around 2:10 p.m. Tuesday (April 10) when a man on the side of the road threw a large rock through the passenger-side windshield of the van.

No one was injured in the incident.

Police located the suspect, 49-year-old John Vezina of Hilo, and arrested him on suspicion of first-degree criminal property damage. He is being held at the Hilo police cellblock while detectives from the Area I Criminal Investigations Section continue the investigation.

The van is described as a 1995 maroon and bronze Chevy Astro. It was traveling on Highway 130 in the Keaau direction near the intersection of Highway 132.

Police ask anyone who saw the incident or who saw anyone throwing rocks at vehicles to call the Police Department’s non-emergency line at 935-3311 or contact Detective Joel Field by phone at 961-2381 or by email at jfield@co.hawaii.hi.us.

Tipsters who prefer to remain anonymous may call Crime Stoppers at 961-8300 in Hilo or 329-8181 in Kona and may be eligible for a reward of up to $1,000. Crime Stoppers is a volunteer program run by ordinary citizens who want to keep their community safe. Crime Stoppers doesn’t record calls or subscribe to caller ID. All Crime Stoppers information is kept confidential.

HPD photo: John Vezina

UPDATE: After issuing this media release, police say they have located a second victim of the alleged Highway 130 rockthrower in Puna. This comes a day after police arrested and charged 49-year-old John Vezina of Hilo with first-degree criminal property damage and first-degree attempted criminal property damage, for allegedly throwing a large rock through the windshield of a moving van on Highway 130 in Pahoa.

No one was injured in the first incident, and luckily the second intended victim – a 52-year-old Pāhoa woman, who reported that the man threw a rock at her car shortly after the first incident – says that she applied her brakes and was able to avoid being hit.

Police are looking for anyone else who may have encountered someone throwing rocks at vehicles Tuesday near the intersection of Highway 130 and Highway 132.