The following is the text of the first police blow-by-blow account of the May 7 Chaucer Road shooting and siege in Napier, as read to a media conference by investigation head Detective Inspector Rod Drew on May 15: Napier shooting "Summary of events up until the injured were evacuated.
The names of those involved in rescuing the striken men are not included at their request. No doubt that will all come out in due course, but for now it is their desire that the focus remain on Len Snee and the wounded. Please respect their wishes.
The story I am about to narrate is one of stark contrast. The cowardly and unprovoked violence of the gunman, and the courage and compassion of those who went to rescue the wounded.
At about 0920 on Thursday 7 May 2009 Senior Constable Len Snee, accompanied by Senior Constables Bruce Miller and Grant Diver, executed a routine search warrant at 41 Chaucer Road, Napier for Cannabis.
The house was occupied by Jan Molenaar and his partner.
Senior Constable Snee parked his vehicle in the driveway of the address while Senior Constable Driver parked his dog van on the footpath facing downhill on the downhill side of the driveway.
They were met at the door by the woman and she let them into the house. That first contact was amicable, and without conflict. The gunman, Jan Molenaar was out walking his dog.
Very soon afterward the third victim, Mr Len Holmwood, who was acquainted with Molenaar and lived nearby, arrived at the address. He said that he was on the way home from night shift and had called by to support the woman.
When Senior Constable Snee explained the warrant the woman took them to a room upstairs where they found two cannabis plants growing. Then, in response to further questions, she took Senior Constables Diver and Miller downstairs into the garage where she showed them a bag containing about 8 to 10 ounce bags of cannabis.
Senior Constable Snee went with the woman to the lounge. She has since explained - "He was a nice guy who did most of the talking. He said we might as well have a coffee while we waited for Jan to come home".
At about 0930, Molenaar returned to the address. He demanded to know why police were in his house then went to the spare room, where the cannabis had been found, and armed himself with a rifle.
Senior Constable Diver came up from the garage to find Molenaar presenting the rifle at them. He told them to leave the house. Senior Constable Snee replied "that's fine we'll go out" and Senior Constable Diver said to the gunman "you don't need to do that". To avoid aggravating the situation they called to Senior Constable Miller and the three walked'casually' out of the front door upstairs, and out of the gates onto the pad in front of the garage doors.
As the three officers reached the road beside Senior Constable Snee's vehicle, the gunman opened fire at them with a .223 rifle, firing shots in very quick succession.
In that first fusillade, Senior Constable Snee was hit in the arm and torso and fell to the ground mortally wounded. Senior Constable Diver was shot once in the left lower back and buttock, and Senior Constable Bruce Miller as shot from behind once through the right groin and left thigh and knocked to the ground.
Diver and Miller managed to stagger then crawl up the road, which is very steep, in search of cover and safety. As they crawled up the footpath the gunman walked onto the footpath and started firing at them. The victim Len Holmwood, tried to stop the gunman and a struggle ensued, during which Mr Holmwood was shot through the left hip and pelvis.
The gunman continued to fire his weapon so Mr Holmwood crawled a short way down hill and sheltered against a stone wall behind one of the cars.
[At 0935] Whilst this was happening Senior Constable Diver crawled into the driveway of 45 Chaucer Road and was let into the house. He collapsed onto a couch and managed to ring the Napier police station to raise the alarm.
In the meantime, Senior Constable Miller managed to get to the driveway of 47 Chaucer Road where he lay seriously wounded.
Residents of nearby streets heard the gun fire and wondered what was happening. One, a woman from Guys Hill Road on the way out to town, stopped her car at the intersection of Guys Hill Road and Chaucer Road. She saw Senior Constable Miller crawling into the driveway. She was soon afterward joined by another resident of Guys Hill Road, a middle aged man. They discussed the situation, and realised that Senior Constable Miller had been shot and that he needed assistance.
The man drove his car down the hill and parked on the road near where Senior Constable Miller was lying. The woman followed shortly afterward.
[At 0937] The man rang police and said that they were with Senior Constable Miller in a driveway in Chaucer Road. As the man and woman went onto Chaucer Road to establish the street number from a letterbox, the gunman fired at least two shots at them, narrowly missing them. They quickly took cover as well as they could, but there was little solid cover available. The woman hid behind her car. The gunman Molenaar fired a shot through the car, fortunately missing her.
[At 0932] Constable Miller had managed to call in on his police portable radio that he and Senior Constable Snee had been shot, and the police response was immediate as officers, some armed and some not, moved quickly toward the area.
It is important to realise just how difficult it is in the early stages of a dynamic incident like this. Communications are scant, you don't know quite what is happening, or why; it is unclear who is injured or worse; and the identity, motivation and exact location of the gunman is unknown. It is a very dangerous and frightening situation!
On that background, six officers were soon at the intersection of Guys Hill Road and Chaucer Road.
They comprised an experienced detective sergeant, two sergeants, two constables, and a senior sergeant from Auckland who was in Napier that day to be interviewed for a vacancy here. He didn't know the area, the staff who had been shot nor the staff he was working with. But without hesitation he quickly turned out with the others to do what he could.
Whilst a sergeant and a constable were detailed to provide cover from positions in the adjacent cemetery, the other four quickly made their way down to Senior Constable Miller and the two civilians.
They were armed variously with Bushmaster rifles and Glock pistols, and wearing stab resistant body armour and a ballistic vest.
They immediately organised to evacuate the two civilians up the hill to safety. As they fled the scene, the gunman opened fire at them with six shots or more. Everyone dropped to the ground and sought what meagre cover there was from high powered rifle fire.
Two of the police officers shielded Senior Constable Miller's body with their own to prevent him being hit again.
The two civilians made it to safety without being harmed.
[At 0936]The woman from 45 Chaucer Road came out to the fence near Miller to tell police that Senior Constable Diver was at her home and that he was injured. She was in danger standing where she was, so Senior Constable Miller, despite his wounds, shouted at her to take cover. She was evacuated safely shortly afterward.
[At 0947] The detective sergeant ran to the woman's car which was sitting in the open, nearby on the street. He turned the car around in the narrow street and reversed into the driveway beside Senior Constable Miller, as the gunman fired shots at him.
The police officers carried Bruce Miller to the car, and he was driven to safety by two of them, whilst the others provided cover with their weapons. But the gunman was not seen. They then made their way to the top of the hill.
In the meantime, the first Armed Offenders Squad members had reached the scene and sprinted down the street past Bruce Miller to where they believed their colleague lay injured in the street to outside 41 Chaucer Road. They were in immediate and grave danger. They found Senior Constable Snee lying on the road at the back of his ute. They checked his vital signs and found that he was dead, so they continued to Grant Diver's van looking for him.
[At 0951] As they did they found Mr Holmwood wounded, sitting against a wall near Senior Constable Diver's van, and two AOS members helped him by foot to safety down the hill.
As this was happening an AOS member spoke to the gunman's partner, who was on the deck at 41 Chaucer Road. As other AOS officers neared the corner boundary of 41 and 43 Chaucer Road, the gunman opened fire at them with up to 20 shots. The bullets came very close as they found meagre cover from sight behind a fence. They were forced to withdraw leaving Len Snee's body where it lay.
Shortly afterward an AOS member found Senior Constable Diver at 45 Chaucer Road. He was in a serious condition and lapsing into unconsciousness. Medical assistance was required quickly.
[At 1022] Police and ambulance officers at the top of the hill conceived a plan to go down the road to bring Grant Diver to safety and medical treatment. The perilous situation was fully explained to the two ambulance officers, who nevertheless volunteered to assist. One was then dressed in a police ballistic vest to go into the address and give treatment, and the other was placed on standby to drive down the road for a "hot extraction" if that became necessary due to Grant Diver's condition.
Two AOS members, the detective sergeant who had been involved in evacuating Bruce Miller, and the ambulance officer, then went down the hill into the danger zone.
They went into 45 Chaucer Road where immediate medical treatment was provided, and they put Grant Diver onto a stretcher for evacuation. It seems clear now that, had the AOS member who first reached Grant Diver had not provided immediate first aid, he would almost certainly have died.
Three of them then carried Grant Diver on a stretcher from the house and began to run up the hill, with two AOS members providing cover. Officers at the top saw that they were struggling under the load and gradient, so the senior sergeant and constable who had helped to rescue Bruce Miller ran into the danger zone and helped to carry the stretcher to the waiting ambulance.
[At 1027] Senior Constable Diver was soon afterward flown by helicopter to hospital, very close to death.
Once the wounded had been evacuated, the Armed Offenders Squad cordoned the area to ensure that the gunman was contained inside his address. In some cases they were protected from the gunman's view, but less well from shots fired by him. Any attempts to communicate with the gunman by loud hailer, were met with a volley of shots.
Further shots fired - 1207 4-5 shots on auto 1210 3-4 shots on auto 1232 2-3 shots on auto plus 2 separate shots Police officer fired two shots through the door.
1529 10-15 shots on auto 1535 7-8 shots on auto 1611 10-11 shots on auto plus 2 1612 4 shots 1613 4-5 shots 1625 1 shot 1703 3 shots And on an on it went.
Carried on like this until 1328 on Friday 8 May. Last shots fired at 1328 Attempts by negotiators to reach him from 1105 on Thursday, finally accepted contact at 2231 that night
Summary of Napier siege
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