Maui man, 19, charged in shooting of woman in school parking lot

Mar. 28—Maui prosecutors charged a 19-year-old Kahului man with attempted first-degree murder in the shooting of a 21-year-old woman at the Wailuku Elementary School parking lot early Monday morning.

Nathaniel Cachola was charged Tuesday, and remains in police custody. Bail was set at $500,000.

On March 21, four days before the shooting, a Maui Circuit judge had dismissed an unrelated June 2023 case in which Cachola was charged with unauthorized entry into a motor vehicle.

In the Monday incident, a 20-year-old Kahului man, who was with Cachola, turned himself in 8 p.m. Monday at the Wailuku Police Station. He was arrested on suspicion of first-degree terroristic threatening, but was later released pending investigation.

Police said that the two Kahului men approached a vehicle in the school parking lot in which the woman and her 19-year-old boyfriend were sleeping. The two men asked for drugs, but the couple said they had none. The men left to drink alcohol in the park, and returned to ask for a lighter, police said.

They exchanged words with the couple, and the 20-year-old man allegedly brandished a firearm, but Cachola allegedly took the gun and tried to climb into the vehicle.

Police said the woman's boyfriend then tried to wrestle the gun from Cachola, but Cachola allegedly hit him on the head with the weapon and then pointed it at the woman's head.

Cachola then stepped away from the vehicle while firing a shot, which struck the woman.

Cachola and the 20-year-old fled on foot.

Police arrived at about 3:12 a.m.

Medics transported the woman to the Maui Memorial Medical Center for treatment.

Investigators found Cachola and arrested him at his home at 1:33 p.m. on suspicion of attempted first-degree murder.