Shots fired as man was getting coffee
‘I ran upstairs and got the baseball bat. Don’t know what I was going to do with it though. ’ NICK BERKLAND
IT was about 7am and Nick Berkland was standing in his kitchen when a car pulled up outside and started shooting his house.
‘‘I was making me a coffee when a bullet came through the kitchen, just above my head. I could hear the banging, and I was like, ‘what the f... was that? F... is that a bullet hole?’’’
Berkland, who lives alone in a quiet street in the Linden area of the Wellington suburb of Tawa, said he pulled back the curtain and saw a white station wagon outside.
‘‘I ran upstairs and got the baseball bat. Don’t know what I was going to do with it though. But when I came outside they’d just driven off,’’ Berkland said.
While bullet holes damaged his bedroom, kitchen and destroyed the window of a friend’s truck, Berkland was unharmed and appeared unshaken when he spoke to Sunday News at noon.
The incident was one of two shootings in Wellington yesterday morning. Two people were critically injured after an earlier shooting in Dixon St in Wellington’s party district at 5am. Both were in intensive care at Wellington Hospital yesterday, Capital & Coast District Health Board confirmed.
Two people were arrested shortly after. A further five people in a vehicle were arrested and a firearm was recovered in Paremata about 7.30am. Police said they stopped a vehicle of interest, travelling north on State Highway 59 in Paremata.
It’s understood police believe both shootings are connected to tensions between
rival gangs the Mongrel Mob and King Cobras.
Patched Mongrel Mob members were at the scene of the Tawa shooting and one confirmed they owned the truck parked on the berm. Asked if he wanted to make a comment, he said: ‘‘Yeah, can you get me a new window?’’
Berkland confirmed he had gang affiliations, but said he had no idea why he had been targeted.
Senior Constable Brett
Maine said he had been at the scene in Tawa since 9am with a colleague, making sure no one entered the house.
Meanwhile, armed police patrolled a cordon in the city centre yesterday morning as a scene investigation was carried out. The cordon stretched around the corner of Taranaki St, from Les Mills, to the Calendar Girls nightclub.
A small area outside a car rental shop about 30m away on Dixon St was also cordoned off
and bloody footprints were being photographed.
Every rubbish bin in Te Aro Park across the road had police tape around it.
Prominent bar owner Matt McLaughlin said he was hearing various reports about what happened but he was struggling to get information from police.
In a statement, police said they take firearms-related matters very seriously, and acknowledged these events
were extremely distressing for the local community.
There would be an increased police presence while the investigation was carried out and police were considering charges in relation to the seven arrests.
Anyone with information is asked to phone police on 105, quoting file number P050338863.
Information can also be provided anonymously via Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111.