Shots fired in Wairoa clash

Press, 10 December 1984, Page 5

Shots fired in Wairoa clash

PA Gisborne A youth was pushed through a window and shots were fired during confrontations in the North Island East Coast town of Wairoa at the week-end, the police said last evening. Two persons are in Wairoa Hospital. Their condition is satisfactory. Two clashes on Saturday night and Sunday morning involved a gang and another group of people, the police said. Both followed an incident on Friday evening in which a youth was pushed through a plate-glass window and taken to Wairoa Hospital. The police said three shots were fired during the later confrontation and another person was now in hospital.

A firearm has been recovered and a man arrested. The police believed they had managed to calm the situation and were satisfied one of the groups would be happy to let things lie. Wairoa’s Mayor, Mr Michael Barrett, has appealed for calm and urged people not to take the law into their own hands. Mr Barrett said Wairoa had problems with a group of gang members some months ago but things had been quiet since then. “I have tried to help them and they know that. A special committee of the council was set up to do what it could.” He said he was concerned that the fear of a brawl might stop people from doing their Christmas shopping in the town.