Police gunned down a man who opened fire on them in a dramatic shootout in West Auckland last night.
The man was taken to hospital in a serious condition after being shot in the stomach when the execution of an arrest warrant erupted into violence and sent a New Lynn street into lockdown.
Late last night, police said they had gone to the Nikau St address about 6pm to arrest the man over an alleged arson.
A fight broke out and the man fired at officers. They fired back, hitting him in the stomach.
The man, aged in his 30s, is understood to have lived in a caravan alongside six blocks of two units down a right-of-way.
“An altercation happened and, as a result, a Taser was deployed at the man but it did not work,” said Superintendent Bill Searle, the Waitemata police district commander.
“Shots were fired at police and police fired back. As a result the man suffered gunshot wounds and is currently in a stable condition.”
Former All Black Sione Lauaki was attending a family get-together a few houses down from where the gunman lived.
A cousin of the Chiefs player, Tupou Fisi’ilose, said the family were having a farewell dinner for Lauaki, who leaves for Tonga today, when the gunfight erupted.
A neighbour said four shots were fired in quick succession, followed by screaming and shouting.
“There was a man’s and a woman’s voice, but I couldn’t hear what they were saying.”
She said she and other neighbours went outside but police ordered them to go back behind closed doors.
From inside, she could hear dogs barking and saw police moving around with a searchlight.
“It’s really shaken me up. I’ve lived in the US before and heard gunshots, but never this close.”
She said other police arrived within three minutes of the shots. “I’ve never seen anything move so fast.”
Lance Brett, who lives in the same block of units, said he was watching wrestling on television when he heard shots ring out.
“Police arrived next door, then I heard shots. I didn’t know if it was a Taser or gunshots.”
Mr Brett said the people living at the address had been in trouble before with the police and were known in the neighbourhood. “They’ve been causing trouble for a while.”
Neighbour Christopher Harris said his wife heard four “pops” and thought it was someone hammering, then quickly realised they were gunshots.
Mr Harris, who has two young sons, said there had been domestic disturbances at the address before but nothing that suggested something so serious could happen.
“It’s a worry. It makes you think twice about where you live,” he said.
Another resident said the shot man was “well known to locals, he’s well known to police and he knows the inside of a cell”.
The man had been arrested there before. On a previous occasion, residents watched as he tried to run but officers were waiting behind a fence and handcuffed him.
“There’s a few who won’t be sorry to see he’s in strife,” a source said.
It’s understood the man’s brother stayed with him in the caravan from time to time.
Last night, some residents huddled in their cars after they were prevented from returning to their homes by a police cordon.
People from the block of flats sat on a fence while they were questioned by officers before being driven away in a police car.
Mr Searle said the incident had been reported to the Independent Police Conduct Authority.
Last night’s drama follows the shooting of Senior Constable Bruce Lamb and Constable Mitchel Alatalo in Christchurch last week – and the death of police dog Gage.
That incident – which came after the officers smelled cannabis during a routine inquiry – sparked renewed calls from the Police Association for officers to be routinely armed.
Commissioner Howard Broad said guns would be made more readily accessible under proposed changes to police policy by the end of the year.
Association president Greg O’Connor welcomed that last week, but warned it would ultimately mean more people getting shot.
He said if the Christchurch officers had shot someone last week, there would have been “a massive outcry in the media about why did the police need to shoot them, and that’s where we just need to grow up as a country”.
New Zealanders needed to stop “getting squeamish” about firearms and “get squeamish” about officers getting shot, he said.
Mr O’Connor said the current system – where one or two designated shift sergeants had guns locked in their cars – was fine when police had warning. “But the problem is all these shootings are coming out of nothing.”
Two officers have been shot dead and seven others have been injured in New Zealand over the past two years.
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