TWO DEAD

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 104, 30 October 1945, Page 8

TWO DEAD

AUCKLAND SHOOTING

RIFLE NEAR MAN'S BODY

P.A. AUCKLAND, This Day. A woman was shot dead in a boardinghouse last night and a man, who had been found wounded outside soon after, died this morning in the Auckland hospital as the result of a bullet wound in the head. The woman was Hannah Lawson, aged about 42, and the man a barman from a hotel in the city, Jaclc White. A sawn-off .22 calibre rifle was beside White's body when he was found last night. Some of the tenants in the apart-ment-house were asleep, and others were in their rooms when they were startled by the sound of a shot. Several of them, including the proprietress, rushed to a small room at the back of the house, where they found Mrs. Lawson lying on her back on the floor between the passage wall and her bed. There was a bullet wound in her head near the left eye, and she had been killed outright. She was fully clothed, and the room was not in disorder. ■

A few seconds after the first ■ shot was heard, another sounded from the street. One of the first to investigate was Mr. G. Hartley, who lived next to the apartment-house. Mr. Hartley saw a man's body in the middle of the road.

Little is known in the house about Mrs. Lawson. It was stated that she had arrived there only last Wednesday, but was to have left tomorrow. She is understood to have told the proprietress that she had been working at a hotel, and was taking her first holiday in 11 years. White was nQt staying at the house. He is believed to have a room at a hotel'in the city, where he is employed. White died in hospital at 9.55 a.m. today. An inquest into the death of Mrs. Lawson has been opened and adjourned.