Auckland Police arrested a 29 year-old unemployed Manurewa man early this morning as a result of investigations over the past six weeks into four firearms incidents in various parts of the City District between November 13 and December 19.

Shots were fired in all four incidents and three men were injured and required hospital treatment as a result.

Detective Senior Sergeant John Sutton of Avondale CIB says this morning’s arrest was effected simultaneously alongside search warrants executed by the Armed Offender’s Squad at two Manurewa addresses.

Shootings occurred at Hayr Rd on November 13 and 27, at a Mt Albert address on December 8 and in Seymour St, St Mary’s Bay, on December 19. source

In the Hayr Road shooting a fifty one year old male was shot in the leg, leaving him with serious injuries. A BMW car was stolen from outside the property.

A man died in west Auckland on Tuesday evening after he sustained a gun shot wound to his chest. Twenty nine year old Daniel Fifita passed away in hospital after being shot at a house in Afton Place, Ranui.

According to one report the parents of the young people who lived at the house were in Australia. Police, who are treating the death as a homicide, have yet to find the weapon used or the person responsible for the shooting.

In September a twenty two year old man was dumped at Taupo hospital with a shot gun wound to his leg, he declined to tell police how he got his injury.

In June a fifty five year old Paeroa businessman, Jordan Voudouris, was shot outside his restaurant. Police would not reveal the weapon used or the part of his body that was shot.  Six months on and police have yet to find the person responsible.

“Voudouris’ ex-partner Gwendoline Richmond, says it came as a “terrible blow” when police finally told them he had been shot at the back of his Mykonos restaurant in the early hours of June 18.

“We were expecting a stabbing. When they told us he was shot, that just hit really, really deep. Who walks around the streets of New Zealand with a loaded gun? This is a place we thought was safe, a little place like Paeroa.

“I think being taken out by a gun, he would not have wanted to go that way, because he didn’t like guns. Even buying [his son] a toy gun was hard.” source

These were just examples of some of the shooting incidents that have occurred in New Zealand over the last year. By no means is it an exhaustive list.

There were 7074 reported prohibited and regulated weapons and explosive offences recorded in New Zealand last year, most of the weapons used in those crimes came from licensed owners. One study concluded that

Increasing procedures to ensure a robust three yearly licensing system and a gun registration process would help to reduce societal harm from the misuse of firearms. More research needs to be done into the viability and cost effectiveness of purpose built gun storage facilities in urban areas.

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