Triston Billimon, 19, was driving in Honolulu late on the night of June 18, 2021, when a routine trip turned tense along the freeway corridors near Kalihi. The encounter began as a road dispute between two vehicles near the Likelike Highway off-ramp area, escalating from irritation to intimidation in a matter of moments.
According to prosecutors’ account presented in court, the other driver forced Billimon’s car to stop, and the confrontation moved from the roadway to the window of
Billimon’s vehicle. In the seconds that followed, a gun was produced and a single shot was fired, striking and killing Billimon at the scene. Witnesses later described hearing the gunshot and seeing a vehicle speed away, while investigators worked to piece together a description and a partial license plate from what people saw in the chaos.
Police attention quickly narrowed to Eddieson Reyes, and court filings describe an investigative trail built from witness descriptions, the suspect vehicle’s identifying details, and a rapid identification process. The records describe a field show-up identification at the Kalihi police station in the early morning hours of June 19, 2021, after which Reyes was identified as the shooter; the same filings describe Reyes having reported his vehicle stolen shortly after the shooting, with police linking that vehicle to the one described leaving the scene.
The case moved through Hawaiʻi’s courts with Reyes facing charges that included second-degree murder, first-degree terroristic threatening, and firearm-related offenses. In May 2022, following a jury-waived trial, a judge found Reyes guilty of murder and additional charges connected to the shooting, despite defense arguments attacking the reliability of identification. In November 2022, Reyes was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole as a persistent offender, with reporting noting he had been on parole at the time of the June 2021 killing.
