Kowhai Ave, a dead-end street, in Kaikohe where a drive-by shooting allegedly linked to gang tensions took place on Wednesday morning. Photo / Peter de Graaf
Kowhai Ave, a dead-end street, in Kaikohe where a drive-by shooting allegedly linked to gang tensions took place on Wednesday morning. Photo / Peter de Graaf
Hours after Northland police announced a breakthrough in a Far North shooting another unfolded on a residential street in Kaikohe.
By mid-morning yesterday quiet had returned to Kowhai Ave, a dead-end street that runs off lower Broadway, just east of Mangakahia Rd.
Residents were going about their normal business but all the talk was about the night's events.
A local, who lives nearby, said he and his partner were still up when they heard what sounded like two shots being fired.
"Me and my missus heard a double bang. It was sometime around three or four in the morning. We went to the window and turned the TV and stereo down, but then it just went silent. We didn't hear anything else."
He put the shooting down to ongoing tensions between the Killer Beez and the Tribesmen.
"It's getting worse. It's not good, man. It's our own people fighting our own people."
Sign at the Guy Rd entrance to Kaikohe alerting visitors to the town's rāhui against gang violence. Photo / Peter de Graaf
Investigations are in the early stages but Detective Senior Sergeant Mark Dalzell, of Northland CIB, confirmed shots had been fired from a vehicle toward a parked vehicle outside the Kowhai Ave address shortly before 3am.
No injuries were reported, Dalzell said.
"Enquiries are in their early stages, however, police understand the incident may be linked to ongoing gang tensions in the area."
Dalzell reiterated their message to the Kaikohe community that firearm incidents are "taken extremely seriously" by police.
"We have an extremely low tolerance for anti-social behaviour or violence in our communities," he said.
The night before Wednesday's shooting police had announced the arrest of a 29-year-old man in connection to a separate firearm incident in the Far North.
He was apprehended during a search warrant executed at a rural property in Kaikohe on Tuesday.
His arrest follows a firearms incident in which a man showed up at Bay of Islands Hospital in Kawakawa on June 6 with a gunshot wound.
The man was transferred to Whangārei Hospital and is recovering from his injuries, Dalzell said.
The 29-year-old appeared in the Kaikohe District Court on Wednesday charged with a raft of firearms and drugs offences.
Charges included possession of a prohibited firearm — namely a .22 calibre semi-automatic rifle with a 15-round capacity magazine — as well as unlawful possession of a .22 calibre rifle, 30 rounds of .22 ammunition and six rounds of shotgun ammunition.
He was also charged with possession of methamphetamine, possession of a pipe for smoking methamphetamine or P, cultivating cannabis and obstructing police.
The Tautoro local was remanded in custody. He is due back in court on July 5 when he is expected to apply for bail.
Dalzell said: "Those who chose to involve themselves in this reckless violence remain on notice – they will be held accountable."
On May 27 community and hapū leaders marched down Kaikohe's main street to mark the beginning of a rāhui on gang violence placed on the town.
The event organiser and spokesman for hapū collective Te Tiahotanga, Mane Tahere, said at the time the rāhui aimed to protect everyone in Kaikohe, from gang members to pēpē (babies).
"This rāhui is about protection of all people and the prohibition of gang violence in our rohe...Our tupuna used rahui in all sorts of ways, and that tradition continues today."
Anyone with information about either incident or concerned about illegal guns in their community can contact police on 105 or Crime Stoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111/
