HEARTBREAKING
‘Keep this officer’s family in your thoughts, as their loved one will not be coming home tonight’ — Police Commissioner Andrew Coster
One police officer is dead and another seriously hurt after a man caught during a routine traffic stop opened fire. Today, a 24-year-old man will appear in court, charged with multiple offences including murder.
The shooting shut down parts of West Auckland and is poised to reignite debate about arming police.
But now police and one family are dealing with the devastation of losing a man who dedicated his career to keeping the rest of us safe.
It started as a routine traffic stop. Two West Auckland police officers chanced upon a car that was flagged as being of interest, connected to potential criminal activity.
They turned on their lights, their sirens and signalled for the car to pull over.
That was at 10.28am. Minutes later, one of the officers was dead in the street and the other was wounded.
When the driver of the car spotted the police he put his foot down.
The officers lost him, but soon found the car crashed on Reynella Drive, off Triangle Rd, one of the main arterial routes in Massey.
A member of the public had been hit and injured.
The officers left their patrol car and approached the crashed vehicle.
A man got out, armed with a longbarrelled firearm.
He pointed it at the officers and fired repeatedly.
They were both hit and wounded. The man then got into a silver Mazda Demio nearby — with a second person — and they took off.
The pair abandoned that car soon after and managed to get away.
Meanwhile the officers — both of them men — were lying seriously injured in the street.
The Weekend Herald understands one of them was calling for help and could be heard yelling that he had been shot and was bleeding.
As word of the shooting spread, residents on Reynella Drive spoke of “loud bangs” out on the road and the frightening events that followed.
“At first I thought it was construction, which is pretty common here,” said Mark, who was hanging out his washing at the time.
“But then I heard it again, after a distinct pause, and thought, ‘That sounds like a gunshot’.”
Elaine Taniela said her father’s friend drove past at the time and described the scene.
“As he neared the first roundabout [near Gallony Ave] he saw a cop on the ground,” she said.
“He said it looked like he was having a seizure. He was shaking.”
Another police officer was on his radio, hunched over and holding part of his body.
Mark went to check out the back of his property, where he got a shock to see a police officer crouching in his neighbour’s backyard.
“He dropped to the ground and was looking around a bit, clutching his chest. Then he jumped over the fence and ran off up the street,” he recalled. “Since then it has just been chaos.”
As emergency services converged on Reynella Drive, eight schools in Massey locked down, including Massey High and Don Buck Primary, and armed police guarded local stations.
The police Eagle helicopter arrived within minutes.
Armed officers, first from West Auckland then further into the Waitemata¯ District and later, from across the entire city, armed up and took to the streets.
A manhunt fanned out across West Auckland and streets were cordoned.
On social media, residents reported armed police checking cars one at a time, asking occupants to wind their windows down.
It seemed that on every street there were red and blue flashing lights, serious-looking officers manning corners and cordons with their fingers ready on the triggers of Bushmaster rifles.
Waitemata¯ District Commander Naila Hassan left her office at headquarters in Mairangi Bay and went to Henderson.
There she was met by Deputy Commissioner Mike Clement, who happened to be in Auckland.
In Wellington, Police Commissioner Andrew Coster was briefed.
He booked a flight to Auckland immediately, holding a press conference at the airport before he boarded to confirm that one of his number was no longer alive.
At 1.45pm Coster was tasked with delivering the news of the first police officer killed on the front line in 11 years.
The last time New Zealand had a police fatality was in 2009 when Jan Molenaar shot Senior Constable Len Snee in Napier.
“It is with a heavy heart that I confirm that one of our colleagues injured in the incident in Massey today has died,” the recentlyappointed police boss started.
“This is devastating news and absolutely the worst thing for us to deal with.
“We have lost a colleague and friend in our police wha¯nau.
“Our thoughts are with the officer’s family and loved ones, and with the other officer and member of the public who were injured in the same incident and their loved ones.”
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, the daughter of a police officer, said it was “devastating news”.
“To lose a police officer is to lose someone working for all of us, but also a family member, someone’s loved one and friend.”
Police Association President Chris Cahill also spoke out.
“We all know being a police officer is a risky job, but officers live with the expectation that they will go home at the end of their shift,” he said.
“Their families live with that expectation too, and they have every right to see their loved ones home safely.”
Cahill said the killing demonstrated risks to officers in “everyday routine policing”, and “highlights the dangers of the proliferation of firearms in the hands of criminals”.
“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,” Cahill said.
In the hours that followed, officers stopped vehicles and an AOS team stormed a house on Rena Place in West Harbour.
On the Northwestern Motorway, a car was pursued and police used road spikes to stop it on the Lincoln Rd overbridge.
The black sedan’s tyres were torn to shreds, its driver arrested.
Coster arrived in Auckland in the early evening and made his second public statement at 5.30pm.
Visibly upset at times and standing beside Hassan, Coster gave further details about the slaying and wounding of his staff.
He revealed two people were being spoken to by police but would not be drawn at all on who they were — nor their associations, including whether they were gang members or prospects.
He said the top priority for police was to support the family of the dead officer and the injured people and their loved ones.
“This is absolutely devastating.
The entire police family is in mourning and shock,” he said. “I ask that you keep this officer’s family in your thoughts, as their loved one will not be coming home tonight.”
Further details of the dead officer and his colleague, including how long they have been in police, their age and rank, are expected to be released today.
The other officer and the injured bystander were yesterday in a serious but stable condition in hospital.
Late last night, police said a 24-year-old man had been charged with murder, attempted murder and dangerous driving causing injury.
He will appear in the Waita¯kere District Court today.
Police would not rule out the possibility of other people being charged.
The Reynella Drive scene would remain under cordon for some time as officers pieced together exactly what happened.
Police tents, forensic staff, photographers and armed officers on the edge of the cordon were settling in for a long night last night.
Police sources around Auckland and the country were reeling when spoken to by the Weekend Herald.
“This is the worst nightmare — it’s just like, f*** . . . ” said one.
“This will be the first plaque on the [remembrance] wall since 2009,” a second source said.
“I feel sick, I feel shattered . . . someone came to work today to save the lives of others and they are going home in a box.”
The source said it was commonplace to encounter offenders with firearms — that was just the modern environment police worked in.
Following the Christchurch mosque shooting, gun laws were strengthened to restrict semiautomatic firearms and magazines.
As part of that, police ran a buyback scheme in a bid to get as many high-powered weapons off the street as possible.
“We thought, despite an increase in firearms on the streets, we were holding our own . . . but we knew it was volatile,” said the second source.
“We took 60,000 guns off the streets in the buy-back and then to have the first death in 11 years — a police officer gunned down, gunned down and slaughtered . . . it’s absolutely awful.”
Police Minister Stuart Nash said he was “heartbroken” for the family and colleagues of the officer who died.
“We want all our police officers to get home safely at the end of every working day,” he said. “This is a tragic day for our police family.”
He dropped to the ground and was looking around a bit, clutching his chest. Then he jumped over the fence and ran off up the street. Since then it has just been chaos. Resident