Fijian in NZ Fearful After Neighbourhood Shooting
Fijian born Kiwi Kavekini Kunalaqa lives in fear for his family’s safety after he witnessed a shooting in his neighbourhood early on Sunday morning.
Mr Kunalaqa, who lives in Avondale suburb in Auckland, New Zealand with his wife and two children, said he was standing outside his house after 2am when he saw a spark and heard a loud bang coming from his neighbour’s house.
The shooting took place after a fight broke out at a party.
The incident left a man in a serious condition in hospital, with Police
investigators blocking off a part of Blockhouse Bay Road as forensic teams worked the scene and questioned the neighbours. New Zealand Police confirmed that a shooting had taken place.
“As A Fijian living in New Zealand for years now I’ve noticed the changes with time and how fast social events have changed. Back in the day, we used to go to parties and it felt safe to some extent, even when fights happened there were no weapons involved,” Mr Kunalaqa said. “However, on the news we often hear shooting all around the country and to have this happen right next door to where I live and to see it with my own eyes really scared me to think that this is our reality.
“It worries me as a father of boys seeing these young people have parties and bringing guns. For the incident to happen right next door to us, it felt like a scene from the movies.” On the night of the incident he said he had gone outside his house to see what was happening when the shooting took place.
“There was a lot of screaming, swearing and fighting which looked like it was a fight between two groups and all I saw was a big spark of light followed by a bang. I returned to our driveway and hid when I saw everyone running away from the party,” he said.
After five minutes he said he heard screaming and crying and when he crossed over he saw a guy lying in a pool of blood, shivering.
At that point paramedics had arrived and the victim was rushed to the hospital.
Mr Kunalaqa revealed that there are a few Indo-Fijian families living in his area as well and since the incident over the weekend he is now more alert of his surroundings
It worries me as a father of boys seeing these young people have parties and bringing guns. For the incident to happen right next door to us, it felt like a scene from the movies. Kavekini Kunalaqa Fijian living in New Zealand