Fiancee’s desperate escape
As Sean McKinnon lay shot in a campervan, his fiancee ran for her life from his killer along a rugged and remote coastal road.
The 33-year-old Australian man was shot dead in an apparent random attack in the early hours of yesterday morning while holidaying near the Waikato coastal town of Raglan with his Canadian fiancee.
The shooting sparked a massive manhunt throughout Waikato with extra police brought in and all officers carrying arms until the gunman, still at large yesterday afternoon, could be caught. A homicide investigation is under way.
McKinnon’s rented Toyota Hiace was found shortly before 8am more than 70 kilometres away on a Gordonton roadside near Hamilton.
Armed police, an ambulance and detectives were waiting outside two cordons after 8am while a single officer and a paramedic were seen with medical equipment working through an open door of the van.
McKinnon’s body was inside.
‘‘It is obviously concerning that we have an armed offender outstanding and we want to assure our Waikato community that our absolute priority is locating him as soon as possible and holding him to account,’’ Detective Inspector Graham Pitkethley said.
The gunman smashed his way into the Apollo rental campervan in Whaanga Rd in Raglan at 3.20am yesterday.
McKinnon and his fiancee, who is reported to be working in New Zealand, were sleeping inside the vehicle when the stranger fired a ‘‘number of shots’’, injuring him.
It was unknown whether there was a struggle before McKinnon was shot.
Barefoot, and with only the light of the full moon to guide her, the 32-year-old woman escaped uninjured along a gravel road in search of help. After walking for more than 2km, the woman found help at a house and police were called.
McKinnon, 33, grew up around Warrnambool in Victoria’s southwest, the Sydney Morning Herald reported. The couple got engaged around Christmas in 2017, according to their social media.
The couple had set up for the night at Te Toto Gorge track carpark, a popular scenic spot in Raglan overlooking the coast.
The shooting was believed to be a ‘‘random attack’’, Pitkethley said.
‘‘Police are working hard to identify and locate the man responsible.’’ Pitkethley wouldn’t discuss the relationship between the two victims or if it was a robbery gone wrong. He would not go into any details of any injuries suffered by the woman, saying only that the area was ‘‘quite rough’’ and bushclad. A description of the gunman was also not forthcoming.
‘‘We are seeking a male in regard to it. As more details become available we will release that to the public who can assist us in locating him. What I can say is that someone out there in the community knows who this offender is, so I am asking them to contact police immediately,’’ Pitkethley said.
About an hour after the attack another couple sleeping in an Apollo campervan in Raglan woke to armed police who were on the hunt for the gunman.
The innocent couple were told to put their hands up and come out.
Police and the armed offenders squad descended on the Manu Bay carpark and were looking for a ‘‘shooter’’, they said.
‘‘We got told to put our hands up, come outside,’’ Kyle John-Roebuck Allan told Stuff. ‘‘[Police] pretty much told us what had happened.
‘‘Obviously the suspect they were looking for, they thought, had taken an Apollo wagon ... they took us outside, made sure the suspect wasn’t inside our vehicle – that was at 4.30am this morning.’’
Police told Allan there had been a shooting and the suspect was at large. Once police had searched their van, one officer stayed to take the couple’s details while the others continued around the coast, he said.
He and his partner, Cat Murray, are from Bethells Beach in West Auckland, and had stopped in Raglan for a quiet night on their anniversary.
Gordonton resident, Julie Short only realised a search was under way after armed police and dog handlers began scouring the paddocks surrounding her home. ‘‘It is a bit worrying,’’ she said.
‘‘He could be anywhere.’’