FATAL SHOOTING1 AT NAPIER

Dominion, Volume 38, Issue 81, 30 December 1944, Page 8

FATAL SHOOTING 1 AT NAPIER

Man With Automatic Pistol Arrested TWO PEOPLE DEAD, Dominion Special Service. NAPIER, December 29. Two persons were killed and three injured in a shooting affray at Napier this afternoon. After a police car brought reinforcements, some armed, Martin James Eyles, aged 44, watersider, was tackled by Senior-Sergeant F. Forsythe and, with the help of other police officers, was taken into custody. He will be charged witli murder tomorrow and remanded. The victims were:— KILLED John Barry Howe, aged 14. of Palmerston North, who was staying at al cainp in Napier. Charles Edmund Swam, porter, Caledonian Hotel, Napier. INJURED. Mrs. Locke, believed to be a resident of Napier. ' Henry James Kearney, aged 83, retired journalist, of Karori, Wellington. Thomas Rodgers, of Napier. These three persons were taken, to the public iiospital and their condition is not serious. The shooting started in the Caledonian Hotel, which is opposite the Post Office. Eyles was armed with an automatic pistol. The first victim was Swain, who had just gone into the public bar with a tray after serving refreshments to some boarders. The bullet which killed him is believed to have gone right through and then hit Rodgers. A sliot was then fired at the proprietor, Mr. Jack Kyle, but missed. Mr. Kearney, who was sitting in the foyer pf the hotel, was the next person shot. He was wounded in the shoulder. A number of shots were then fired in the street. Mrs. Locke, who was standing outside a tobacconist’s shop, was hit in the groin, and then the boy, Howe, cycling past, was shot in the temple. All this occurred during the peak of the afternoon shopping, while there . was a large number of people in the streets. At least 20 rounds were fired. Police reinforcements’ arrived by car, driven by Detective A. Reid. Also in the car were Senior-Sergeant Forsythe, Detective-Sergeant D. McKenzie, De-tective-Sergeant Mills, Sergeant Audley, Constables B. Nathan and E. Rippin. Mr. Forsythe and the other uniformed police left the ear before it reached Eyles and started to stalk him while the car went on toward bimj Two shots were fired at the car, both entering within 'a few inches of Mr. McKenzie and Mr. Reid. Mr. McKenzie fired back five shots. Meantime Mr. Forsythe got up to Eyles and, though unarmed himself, closed with him. Sergeant Audley and the two constables joined in, and Eyles was overpowered and disarmed. There were five bullets still in the pistol, 37 bullets in a bag and nine in a pocket. As far as could be ascertained, no argument preceded the shootings. Eyles served in the navy during the last war and is well known in Napier.