‘It was quite close': Preschool goes into lockdown, follows ‘normal routine’
A preschool on Reynella Drive was forced into lockdown while emergency services responded to the fatal police shooting.
Teachers at Jolly Stars Early Learning Centre decided to bring everyone inside after police officers flooded the area, according to teacher Meggie Ren.
“I think it was quite close,” Ren said. “We saw the police going down the road quite fast.
“The helicopter was around and we saw heaps of police cars and decided to bring the children in the room.
“We decided to lock all the doors and pull all the curtains down. Then the police came to us and let us know that we needed to go under a lockdown procedure.”
The children played happily inside as if it were a rainy day, Ren said.
Once in lockdown, the centre texted the children’s parents to let them know they had locked up and were all safe and well.
Around 3.05pm they were informed by the Ministry of Education they could end the lockdown, Ren said.
Children and teachers were all fine after the incident, Ren said.
“We are alright, just followed the
Photo/ Elizabeth Binning normal routine,” she said. “In our procedures, if it’s an emergency and it’s needed, we might hide under the table but we didn’t do that. It was not necessary.
“They [the children] were just playing inside with all the teachers . . . They were playing nicely and were quite happy. It was just like a normal rainy day,” she said.
Ren didn’t hear any gunshots, but Reynella Drive resident Elaine Taniela thought she did.
Taniela was at home when she heard three distinctive sounds she thought to be gunshots.
“My dad was outside and heard them as well.”
A stand-off ensued, which lasted 51 hours. Molenaar used an arsenal of weapons, mostly high powered military-style rifles and shotguns, to shoot at police and the public.
He died from a gunshot wound to the head that the Coroner confirmed appeared to be selfinflicted.
Yesterday’s shooting involved the fifth officer killed in the line of duty since the turn of the century.
In 2008, Sergeant Don Wilkinson was fatally shot on undercover duty in Ma¯ngere. He was one of two plainclothes officers shot while trying to install a tracking device on a vehicle outside a suspected P lab.
Earlier that year, Sergeant Derek Wootton was on night shift in Titahi Bay when a report was received of an alleged serious assault and carjacking. Wootton laid road spikes in a street but was struck as the vehicle went over them. He died at the scene.
The earliest recorded police death dates back to Constable Neil McLeod, who died on July 30, 1890. At Mangawhare Wharf near Dargaville, McLeod helped remove Henry Funcke from a passenger steamer after his rifle was taken from him.
In a rage, Funcke pulled out a hidden pistol and fired at the departing ship, striking McLeod, who was travelling to Auckland with his family. Funcke was acquitted on the grounds of insanity.
Sixty-two officers and staff have also died as a direct result of duty, including in the 2011 Christchurch earthquake, drownings, car crashes and plane crashes.