On December 23, 2023, shortly after 2:15 p.m., Dingie Anthony Dean Martin, a 39-year-old man, was at his home on Koloa Maoli Road in the Hawaiian Acres subdivision in Puna when violence found him in the place that should have been safest—his own driveway. Patrol officers arrived to reports of a shooting and found him on the ground as people around him tried to help, the scene already heavy with the frantic confusion that follows sudden gunfire.

An ambulance rushed him to Hilo Medical Center, but the injury was catastrophic. He remained hospitalized overnight and was pronounced dead at 10:40 a.m. on December 24, 2023. An autopsy later determined he died from a single gunshot wound to the head, and the manner of death was classified as homicide. 
As detectives worked backward from that driveway, early accounts pointed to a moment that unfolded in seconds. Investigators said witnesses who were visiting the home reported that a vehicle partially drove up the driveway; when Martin went to see who was there, he was shot. The case was classified as second-degree murder, but police said they had not identified a suspect or a motive, continuing interviews and chasing tips that might explain why someone came to the end of that driveway ready to kill. 
In the months that followed, the story did not move forward in public the way families hope it will. The Hawaiʻi Police Department continued to describe the investigation as active, asking anyone who saw anything unusual—especially a suspicious vehicle in the area around the time of the shooting—to come forward. As of the May 2, 2024 update, police still reported no identified suspect or motive, and no arrests or charges were announced in connection with Martin's killing. 
