Police seek sightings of car used in shooting
Police are seeking sightings of a car used in a shooting at a property in North Taranaki which is believed to be gang related.
About 6pm on Tuesday two cars crashed through a gate at a Norman St address in Waitara before smashing into a building in the yard.
Shots were fired during the attack which is believed to have links to the Highway 61 motorcycle gang.
Police have recovered both of the vehicles used in the raid, a green Ford Falcon station wagon was abandoned at the scene while a silver Nissan Primera was later found at a Tate Rd address.
A number of firearms and ammunition had also been seized by police but no arrests have been made.
Detective Senior Sergeant Brent Matuku said police were interested in sightings of the Primera, which would have had significant damage to the front, leaving the address.
‘‘That would have been driving through Waitara before 6pm, it is a rough condition vehicle, but afterwards it has got significant frontal damage and that vehicle has left Norman St and it has definitely been in the Raleigh St, Tate Rd, Devon St area, where it has been dumped,’’ Matuku said.
‘‘Someone would have seen that vehicle and we have got reports of two males running from it.’’
He said the men seen fleeing the vehicle were wearing gray coloured tops with hoodies and pants.
‘‘It was a busy time of day and there were lots of people around.
‘‘There was clearly at least two people, I would say, we have got witness accounts that there was six people there or more.’’
Matuku said there were one or two firearms still outstanding and he appealed to anyone in the community who had information about the incident to contact police before anyone else got hurt.
‘‘There’s a bit of tension in that environment and I think they would do themselves a favour and their families a favour if they came forward and told us what they know about it.
‘‘Any incident that involves firearms is of concern for the police. We take the safety of our communities very importantly and we want to get to the bottom of this quickly and we need the assistance of the public to do that.’’
Anyone with information about the incident is urged to contact their nearest police station or provide details anonymously via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.