Gunman’s final text: I’m done with life
A long-time friend of the man believed to have fatally shot a mother and daughter says he suffered from depression and was not a monster.
Quinn Patterson was believed to have lived at the house at the centre of the shooting in rural Northland on Wednesday.
Property inspectors Wendy Campbell and daughter Natanya died, while contractor Jeff Pipes was injured after being shot in the back.
Patterson’s friend, Leah Cameron, said he had taken medication for depression in the past.
‘‘Nothing really seemed to help that much and he would have these episodes, these little depressive episodes,’’ Cameron said.
She shared the final text message she had received from Patterson.
‘‘This life is just a continuous struggle without end or point and I’m done with it,’’ it read in part.
‘‘Each day I wake up and I realise to my dismay that I’m still here.’’
Police put their lives in danger to form a human shield around the victims on Wednesday, despite knowing that an active shooter was in the vicinity.
Armed officers protected medically trained police staff as they tried to rescue Wendy and Natanya Campbell.
Their efforts were sadly in vain as the mother and daughter were already deceased.
The Campbells had arrived at the address on Mt Tiger Rd to carry out a routine property inspection but the visit turned fatal. The house later burnt down.
‘‘Our AOS and police staff did everything they could and, despite knowing there was an active shooter in the immediate vicinity, AOS have still entered the property to see if there was any chance they could save Wendy and Natanya,’’ Northland district commander Superintendent Russell Le Prou said.
Friend Tim Boyd, who said he had been in contact with Pipe’s wife, Valerie, confirmed that Pipe had been shot in the back and shoulder.
He is in Whangarei Hospital in a stable condition after managing to escape.
Patterson was described by locals as a loner who fired guns on a daily basis.
Police have not yet located Patterson’s body in the burned-out house, nor been able to confirm any details about him.
Local residents said Patterson’s constant shooting made them uncomfortable, and several had considered calling the police to warn them about his strange behaviour.
Patterson had lived alone for several years at the property on Mt Tiger Rd, about 10km east of Whangarei, in a remote area dotted with pine trees and steep gullies.
Nearby resident Brad Walters confirmed his identity, and identified Patterson from a picture on his Linkedin profile. Another resident also identified Patterson from the picture, but did not want to be named.
Interviews with Patterson’s neighbours yesterday painted a picture of a recluse who kept to himself and had repeated run-ins with other people who lived in the area.
Walters said he and other neighbours were concerned by the amount of shooting heard coming from the property Patterson was renting tucked away in the bushes.
‘‘He was just a bit of an old cowboy,’’ Walters said.
‘‘When [the house] went on fire it was just going off like fireworks, he must have had so much ammo,’’ he added.
Andrew Randall lives in a caravan on a small block of land right next to Patterson’s home, and said he heard him firing off guns ‘‘on a daily basis’’.
‘‘I’ve been concerned for a while. There’s been a lot of gunfire. It would be several times a day, in bursts.
‘‘A couple of times it felt like it was quite close, like it was fullauto,’’ he said.
It’s understood Patterson had become embroiled in several conflicts with neighbours, and did not have a good relationship with the owners of the property he was renting.
Randall said he had met Patterson about four times, but he ‘‘liked his privacy, and liked to keep himself to himself’’.
‘‘He seemed to take offence easily, and he wasn’t the most empathetic person,’’ Randall said.
Randall said that when he heard gunfire on Wednesday morning he assumed it was nothing out of the ordinary, and thought ‘‘there goes that idiot again’’.
He only realised something was wrong when police bullhorns started sounding in the area.
Dozens of emergency vehicles rushed to the area, including police cars, ambulances, fire engines and the police Eagle helicopter.
The shooter is believed to have died when the house went up in flames about 3.45pm on Wednesday following an exchange of gunfire with police.
Friends and family gathered at Wendy Campbell‘s home in Onerahi yesterday to support her husband Tony, who they said was ‘‘very distraught at this time’’.