Officer still has bullet in body, man found guilty of shooting him

HONOLULU (KHON2) — A man is looking at an extended term for shooting an HPD officer and a trying to shoot another while he was on parole for a different attempted murder in the 90s.

Fifty-two-year-old Tony D.V. Souza was found guilty on Monday for shooting a plainclothes police officer who was searching a Waianae home in 2019 for a man wanted on suspicion of fraudulent use of a credit card.

According to reports, during the search, Souza came out of a closet and shot the officer in the hand and chest. He also tried to shoot a second officer but the gun did not fire.

The bullet remains in the officer’s body, according to the prosecutor’s office.

Souza was on parole for an attempted murder case at the time. It was an offense that he committed as a juvenile and waived to be tried as an adult. He was accused of stabbing a victim in the neck and multiple times in the body in 1990. He was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole for the crime.

“Taking Mr. Souza off the street makes us all safer,” said Prosecuting Attorney Steve Alm. “Souza has now been found guilty twice for attempted murder, showing a callous disregard for life.”

Sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 16, 2025. The jury authorized consideration for extended term sentencing in all counts, which include the attempted murder charge as well as four felony firearms offenses. If sentenced to an extended term, Souza would face a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole for the attempted murder charge.