Man Arrested After Shooting Incident

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31654, 15 April 1968, Page 1

Man Arrested After Shooting Incident

After about six shots were fired from a shotgun and a man was struck in the buttocks by pellets, police armed with rifles and revolvers surrounded a bach at the rear of a house at 19 Coleridge Street, Sydenham, yesterday afternoon.

More than two hours after the shots an elderly man was escorted to a police car and was driven to the Central Police Station.

After being interviewed the man was charged with the attempted murder of Desmond Arthur Langston-Hamilton. He will appear in the Magistrate’s Court this morning. About 2 p.m. residents living near the western end of Coleridge Street heard shots. An injured man went to the Sydenham Police Station a short distance away in Brougham Street and uniformed police from Sydenham and the Central Police Station rushed to the scene and kept guard until the armed offenders squad arrived. Road blocks were put up at the Hawdon and Gasson Street intersections, and noone was allowed into Coleridge Street. Members of the armed offenders squad, under Detec-tive-Inspector M. T. Churches, took up positions around the bach. Equipped with portable radios, they were assisted by uniformed police and detectives. Police dogs were also present. A base was set up at the Sydenham Police Station and at one stage six police vehicles were parked in Hawdon Street just back from the Coleridge Street intersection. Coleridge Street was de-

serted and there were very few persons in adjoining streets. A few watched from their front fences. About 3.50 p.m. half a dozen members of the armed offenders squad moved in single file from Hawdon Street down Coleridge Street. A number of appeals for the man to give himself up we're made through a loud-hailer. Twenty minutes later some of the police vehicles moved from Hawdon Street into Coleridge Street and others left the area. At 4.20 p.m. a man was placed in a nolice car parked outside 19 Coleridge Street. Mr Langston-Hamilton was treated at the Christchurch Hospital.