Women die in shooting

Press, 22 December 1978, Page 1

Women die in shooting

PA Gisborne Two women are dead and the Gisborne police are holding a man for questioning about a shooting incident in the suburb of Kaiti soon after 2 p.m. yesterday.

Detective Senior-Sergeant A. W. Beattie said the man being questioned was the estranged husband of one of the dead women. Two young children, related to one of the dead women, w'ere in the house at the time. They told a neighbour what had happened and the police were called.

Police have seized a .22 calibre rifle.

Detective Senior-Sergeant Beattie said that both women were dead when the police arrived at the house in a quiet street

about 2km from the city centre.

The public were told that the police were seeking information about a farm worker, aged 43, believed to be in possession of a rifle. The man had been seen leaving the house and driving off in a light-blue station waggon. About 4.30 p.m. a policeman called on relatives of the man they were seeking. The policeman virtually walked into the stationwaggon parked at a house in Stout Street, about 4ktn from the scene of the incident. A man was apprehended In the house.

The shooting shocked neighbours and friends of the two dead women w'ho were ail respected and said to be devout members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses.