Another Armed Offenders Call Out In NZ - Auckland

It’s been a busy period for the Armed Offenders Squad.

Three  days ago there was an armed robbery of a pub in Point Chev that led to an AOS stand off in the residential area of Flatbush, 20kms away.

Then this morning they cordoned off roads and surrounded a house in Pakuranga Road, South Auckland. Witnesses said the police were negotiating with a person holed-up in a property. The incident is thought to have ended without injury or loss of life. See “Another dickhead on the lose in Panmure“

The day finished with call out to the North Shore suburb of Hllcrest, another quiet residential area:

“About 20 police officers including members of the armed offenders and dog squad were seen packing down and leaving from Coronation Rd at 4.10pm. Police earlier received a report about a man waving a rifle in the area around 2pm, detective Shane Page says.
The police Eagle helicopter and patrol cars surveyed the area and access to part of Coronation Rd and nearby Velma Rd and McFetridge Pl was blocked. Road blocks forced some students from surrounding schools to take a longer route home. Nearby Marlborough Primary and Sunnybrae Normal Schools were on lock down as a precaution until the end of the school day. “

Is there something in the water, or is this just the silly season for nutters with guns? There’s thought to be at least 1.1 legally owned million firearms in New Zealand so the odds are that something, or someone, is going to kick-off sooner or later.
See also:
Family row led to shots being fired from house -  “A Pukehina Beach man at the centre of an armed police seige after he fired several gun shots has been sentenced to 100 hours’ community work and six months’ supervision. Shaun Albert Cockburn, 39, who earlier pleaded guilty to charges of discharging a firearm near a house was sentenced in Tauranga District Court yesterday.” 23 June 2010

Armed police called out in Southland – “An Armed Offenders Squad (AOS) call-out, an unprovoked assault which left a man unconscious, and an aggravated dairy robbery at knife point kept Invercargill police busy overnight.  At 8.50pm police received a 111 call from Bluff, reporting that a man with a weapon was threatening to kill the two other people at a property — another man and a woman.” 10 June 2010

Police seek man after armed offenders called out - “Police say the AOS was sent out on Saturday morning to a rural property where it was thought there had been an altercation between a man and his nephew. They say the women who called them had fled the house saying she had fears for a young man after her partner had assaulted him and threatened him with a firearm.” 15 May 2010
Norsewood gunman puts lower North Island into lockdown – “Residents of the lower north island towns of Dannevirke, Ormondville and Takapau have been advised to stay inside, lock their doors and stay away from windows after a body was found in a car abandoned by a gunman on the run. Police closed State Highway 2 between Norsewood and Waipukurau while they hunted for the man who had also fired at police and shot at a farm worker, injuring him in the arm. The offender was described as a European, aged 46 and highly dangerous. He was later named as David John Bourke from Wanganui.” 5 October 2009

Armed sieges and gun politics in NZ – “An armed stand-off in Chaucer Road South, Napier that started yesterday morning continues into today. A routine cannabis bust went horribly wrong when the suspect, Jan Molenaar, shot dead policeman Len Snee, 53 and critically injured 3 other people yesterday in the small tourist town of Napier, famed for its art deco architecture. Len Snee was the fifth police officer to have been shot dead since the Aramoana massacre of 1990 and one of 29 officers to have died as a result of a criminal act in New Zealand.” 7 May 2009

Armed robberies in NZ

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