Suzanne O is one of only two female officers to be killed by gunfire in Hawaiʻi in many years.

Maui police officer Suzanne O, who was shot and killed by a gunman Friday night, was originally from American Samoa and saw herself as a role model for other girls and young women from the Pacific Islands.

“I want to show them that there’s more to life,” she said in a recruiting video for the department three year ago.

O was responding to a report of terroristic threatening in Pāʻia when she was shot in the chest by a man with a rifle about 8:30 p.m., Maui police officials said.

The suspect was shot and wounded by other officers and was taken into custody. His identity had not been released by Saturday and police declined to give out any other details on the shooting.

Maui Police Chief John

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