Man dead, police hurt in shooting

Press, 23 September 1988, Page 1

Man dead, police hurt in shooting

p A Gisborne One man was dead, three policemen were injured and five men were in custody when a day-long manhunt ended on Mahia Peninsula, Hawke’s Bay, last evening.

When late in the day the police closed in on the house where the incident began at 10.45 a.m., they found a man’s body inside. His identity has not been released. Police said the dead man was in his early 20s, and no shot had been fired when the police moved in. The other occupants of the house were taken into custody without violence. Earlier, a Wairoa policeman, Constable Joe Kairau, had been taken to Napier Hospital for specialist treatment after being hit in the face by a shotgun blast. It is believed his injuries may include a damaged eye. The police said the incident began when three constables serving a search warrant at- a house were met with armed resistance. One was hit on the head and another was chased by an armed person. A pig dog was also set on the constables. The policemen retreated and two of them were setting up a road block about I.skm from the house when a man stepped out of the scrub nearby and apparently fired a shotgun. Constable Kairau was hit in the face, and Constable Greg. Willis, of Wairoa, also suffered superficial shotgun wounds. Constable Willis, who is just three days out of the police

training college, suffered dog bites. Constable Philip Rowe, of Nuhaka, was knocked unconscious. Armed offenders squad members from Gisborne and Napier were sent to Mahia and the Rotorua squad was put on standby. A helicopter was called in. Acting District Commander Neville Cook went to Mahia with members of the Gisborne C. 1.8. and a big contingent of uniformed staff. Fifty police were involved in the hunt for six to eight men. A police car in the cordon was fired on, and the first patrol car that went to the area was later found burnt out near the scene of the shooting.

Constables Willis and Rowe were taken to Wairoa Hospital. Some children at Opoutama School were unable to go home because of the incident near the Mahia golf course. By evening, the operation was scaled down and the cordon contracted to the area round the house where the incident began. When police entered the house they discovered the body, and took five men into custody. The scene was isolated for investigation and photography, and the body was still in the house last evening. Police were interviewing several witnesses. The Gisborne and Napier armed offenders squads stood down before 7 p.m. as the incident ended. The Commissioner of Police, Mr Malcolm Churches, said last evening he was deeply disturbed to hear of the attacks on police. He said his sympathies had gone to the three injured men and. their families, and he hoped they would make speedy recoveries. “The Mahia situation graphically illustrates what can happen at any time in police work. It shouldn’t, but it does,” he said. “Fortunately, violence against the police of this magnitude is rare.”