Hawaiian resident fires gun at man ‘returning to check his home after it was destroyed by Kilauea volcano’
A HAWAIIAN resident was filmed firing a gun towards a man who says he was returning to check his home after the Kilauea volcano erupted.
Footage posted on Facebook shows John Hubbard, 61, shoving 32-year-old Ethan Edwards before drawing his weapon and taking aim.
The hothead demands Mr Edwards and his friends leave the Leilani Estates, where molten rock has been flowing for about a month, before firing his gun into the sky.
When the shot goes off, people can be heard yelling out and Mr Edwards can be seen crouching and covering his head with his arms.
He can be heard yelling: “Are you kidding me? Stop!”
Hubbard says: “Get the f*** out of here,” as Mr Edwards, who is walking away with his hands up, repeatedly screams back “I live here!”
The 20-second clip, filmed from a car, ends with Mr Edwards cowering out of shot as Hubbard follows him with his gun still drawn in his direction.
Posting the footage on Facebook on Wednesday evening, Mr Edwards said:“Happy to be alive.
“Be careful out there folks. This situation is really beginning to take its toll psychologically and the bad weather is contributing to emotional tensions. Folks are breaking down.”
Hawaiian Island police arrested Hubbard on Tuesday for assault and took him to the Hilo cellblock, Hawaii News Now reported.
He was later charged with two counts of first-degree reckless endangering, five counts of first-degree terroristic threatening, one count of first-degree robbery and several other firearms offences.
After the footage racked up more than 600,000 views, Mr Edwards posted an update thanking people for their "compassion, love and support throughout the last 48 hours".
He said: "In the face of all that's happened to Briana and I (losing our home to lava, being shot at while trying to have closure with our loss) we are still #punastrong.
"Our dreams remain the same. All we wish for is to have land of our own (in a lava 3 or higher zone) to grow food, raise our first child (a canine named: Korben "Chewie" Calrissian) and sustain our clowning and solar shave ice food cart business so that we may continue to keep our community smiling through these troubled times and beyond."
He added that a GoFundMe page had been set up to help them raise money after losing their home.
About 75 homes have been destroyed since the volcano erupted and some 2,000 people have been ordered to evacuate.
Some have chosen to stay behind to protect their belongings from looters.
Hawaii County’s civil defence administrator Talmadge Magno said tensions were running high as a result.
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He said: “They’ve got this live volcano in their back yard. They feel like, they see strange people in their subdivision, whether it’s people just wanted to go see lava or criminals … and they try to protect stuff.”
“I could see it coming, I know it’s something that happens in a lot of disasters, whether it’s in the shelters or in the communities — a lot of stress, a lot of things are going on there."
A version of this article originally appeared on the New York Post
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