Officer paid the ‘ultimate price’ in line of duty
New Zealand’s police community has been left reeling after the first on-duty death of one of its own in more than a decade.
A police officer was shot and killed carrying out a routine traffic stop in the West Auckland suburb of Massey yesterday morning, in an incident that seriously injured another officer and a member of the public.
The officer, who had not been on the force for Waitemata¯ District for long, lost his life in what Police Commissioner Andy Coster described as a ‘‘heartbreaking’’ incident which unfolded in the course of one of thousands of routine police call-outs every day.
‘‘We are devastated to have lost one of our police family ... [we are] in shock and in mourning.’’
The officer, who has not yet been named, was the 33rd to have been killed in New Zealand in the line of duty since 1890, and the first since 2009.
Senior Constable Len Snee was killed in May 2009 by Jan Molenaar while executing a routine search warrant at Molenaar’s Napier home, in an incident which left two other officers and a member of the public shot and seriously wounded.
In the history of New Zealand policing, 22 officers have been shot and killed since 1890. Since 2002, 15 officers have been wounded by firearms.
Minister of Police Stuart Nash said the officer ‘‘dedicated his career to keeping us safe’’.
‘‘We want all our police officers to get home safely at the end of every working day,’’ Nash said.
‘‘This is a tragic day for our police family.’’ Flags outside Waita¯ kere Police Station were flying at half-mast, surrounded by bouquets of flowers in the hours after the officer’s death.
Police Association President Chris Cahill said though being a police officer was a risky job, they do so with the expectation they will return home at the end of their shift.
‘‘It is an absolute tragedy that the very people who run towards danger to keep us all safe, can end up paying the ultimate price in the line of duty,’’ he said.
These sentiments were echoed by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who said to lose a police officer was ‘‘to lose someone working for all of us, but also a family member, someone’s loved one and friend’’.
Visibly upset while addressing media yesterday evening, Waitemata¯ Superintendent Naila Hassan said the Auckland policing team and entire country was ‘‘absolutely devastated’’ by the officer’s death.
At 10.28am yesterday morning, two officers responded to an alert involving a vehicle of interest in Massey. It is unclear what the alert was, or why it was a vehicle of interest.
Putting on their lights and sirens, the two officers attempted to pull the car over, but soon lost sight of it.
The car, fleeing police, hit and injured a member of the public before coming to a crashing halt on Reynella Drive about 10.30am.
A man got out of the car, armed with a longbarrelled firearm and fired multiple shots at the officers – striking them both. The officers were unarmed.
It’s understood the officer who died was shot in the abdomen. The second officer was shot in the leg and taken to Auckland City Hospital in a serious condition, where he is now in a stable condition.
After opening fire, the shooter got into another vehicle and fled the scene with a second person.
The Armed Offenders Squad was called in, cordoning off the suburban streets, and a manhunt was instigated.
Over the course of the day, the car was found abandoned, and a firearm was located by police, Coster said at a briefing yesterday evening.
As of yesterday police were speaking with two ‘‘people of interest’’ and continued to follow ‘‘strong lines of inquiry’’ in the investigation into the incident.
Coster did not confirm whether the people being spoken to were those who shot at police.
Cordons remain in place in the shaken West Auckland suburb, and police across Auckland will remain armed until the person responsible has been arrested.
Coster asked New Zealanders to keep the officer’s family in their thoughts, as ‘‘he won’t be coming home’’.