Half-Caste Maori Shot After Three-Hour Gun Battle On South Island Air Force Station

Wanganui Chronicle, 15 December 1949, Page 6

Half-Caste Maori Shot After Three-Hour Gun Battle On South Island Air Force Station

CHRISTCHURCH, Last Night (PA). —After a three-hour battle, in which shots from automatic pistols and .303 rifles shattered the stillness of the night at the R.X.Z.A.F. station at Weedons, 10 miles south of Christchurch, Walter Haremai Momo, 22-year-old leading aircraftman, who eseaped from custody in the guard house and terrorised the camp with indiscriminate shooting, was shot dead.

Momo. a half-caste Maori, had, according to the police, been taken into custody because of his nervous mental condition. At 1.30 a.m. today he escaped.

Forcing his wav into the armoury he removed a .303 rifle and a bayonet

and about 60 rounds of ammunition. He then moved unnoticed to the main entrance to the station, where he held up a city taxi-driver, who had brought an airman back from Christchurch. Momo fired three shots at the vehicle. One of the shots, entering th» lear of the car. ripped its way alonthe inferior roof covering and outhrough the roof. The second shot tore through the front mudguard. The final shot went astray. \ POLICE CALLED. The driver of the taxi (Mr. W. L. Drury), with his passenger, Leonard Bryant, raced from the scene and headed toward Rolleston. the direction in which he had been facing. On arrival there Bryant notified the Christchurch police. Police parties under the control of Sergeants G. Cleary and O. D. Wilkes, sped to Weedons. A police radio car also travelled to the air station with the armed parties. When they reached Weedons the police squads from Christchurch were joined by constables from Lincoln and Islington. Momo, after firing at the taxi, went into the camp telephone exchange, held up the op*»rator, and took control of the exchange, which is in a small upstairs room at the north-western corner of a large store. Momo apparently caught sight of the police party, which had been joined by a large force of airmen, who were also armed. TEAR GAS USED. Momo began firing on these men and groups fanned out and the store was surrounded. Momo kept up a steady hail of bullets and showed no signs’of leaving the exchange. Tear gas was then used to drive Momo into the store. Realising he was trapped and now desperate, Memo dashed from the side door with his rifle blazing and the bayonet fixed. He ran into an open paddock still firing. Memo’s pursuers returned his fire, and after a short, sharp encounter, he dropped to the ground, dead. An ambulance and a doctor from Christchurch Public Hospital had been dispatched to Weedons to attend to possible casualties, but their sendees were not required. However the Superintendent of Notice at Christchurch (Mr. J. Bruce Young) said several his men had narrowly escaped being shot. FORTUNATE ESCAPES. We are very fortunate to come out of this affair without loss of life,” said Mr. Young. He explained that in addition to the parties of armed men sent

to Weedons, another group of about 20 men, including Inspector T. F. Holmes, of the detective office, and Sub-Inspector G. H. L. Holt, had been standing by in Christchurch ready t< join up with the parties at a moment s notice. An inquest into the death of Momo was opened at the Christchurch morgue at 9.30 today before the coroner (Mr. Raymond Ferner). Flight Sergeant Leslie Franklin Gibbs, Station Warrant Officer at the Royal NewZealand Air Force stores depot at Weedons, gave evidence of identification. He said that he had known Momo for about five years, for the past two of which Momo had been err ployed as a clerk in the orderly room at Weedons. The inquest was adjourned sine die. ORDEAL FOR C.O. A terrible two hours was spent by the commanding officer of the station at Weedons, Squadron-Leader G. S. Evatt, in trying to persuade Walter Momo, who had gone berserk, to desist. During this period, SquadronLeader Evatt was talking to Momo by the camp telephone, but all his at' tempts to make Momo change his mind proved futile. ‘‘l was on the telephone to Momo for more than two hours,’’ said Squad-ron-Leader Evatt this afternoon. “When Momo broke into the exchange room, I began talking to Craddock, the operator, on the telephone. Momo ordered Craddock out of the building and then talked to me himself. I tried to plead with him to throw away the rifle but to no avail. I held him in conversation for more than two hours, hoping we could find some way of making him come to his senses. He rejected all overtures. “He was in deadly earnest all the time during the conversation. He would fire a shot and come back again. The time dragged out but he still talked and I thought that while he was on the telephone there might yet be a chance of saving him. He said that the reason for his action was that he had had some very bad news in connection with personal affairs and he wanted to take his own life. He just wanted to be left alone. He kept on repeating this. “He emphasised several times that he was very sorry for what had happened. His decision had nothing to do whatsoever with the station at Weedons. His outside affairs were always in his mind. Momo obviously had a tortured mind,” continued Squadron-Leader Evatt. “There was no doubt from his conversation that he was mentally deranged. He kept rambling continually while he talked. At no time did he explain why he was shooting at other people. Momo was a clever young man and was an excellent clerk.” he added. “It was a most regrettable affair.”