Michael Riley has been awarded the New Zealand bravery decoration for his heroic actions dealing with a gunman.
Michael Scott Riley The New Zealand Bravery Decoration for an act of exceptional bravery in a situation of danger Police Officer S The New Zealand Bravery Medal for an act of bravery
A former McDonald's employee wishes he could have done more for the man who walked into his restaurant and pointed a gun at him.
Michael Riley has received the New Zealand Bravery Decoration in the Queen's Birthday honours for his actions in September 2015 when gunman Pera Smiler entered the fast food outlet on the corner of Upper Hutt's Main and Wakefield streets and fired his .303 rifle.
Smiler was shot dead by police during the incident after he had already fired at officers and looked set to do it again.
Riley, from Upper Hutt, was working in a manager position that day, and was in the office when staff ran in "yelling and screaming" that a man with the gun was at the front counter.
Agitated, Smiler fired his gun towards the ceiling.
As he watched colleagues sobbing and panicking on the floor, and a close friend crying on the phone to her partner, Riley knew he had to do something.
"Right there and then I sort of decided that I'd try to talk to him," he told the Herald.
"I was able to ask him if I could help get the customers out."
Smiler followed Riley around the restaurant, at times pressing the gun into his back or head, as Riley helped customers out of the building and checked to make sure everyone was safe.
"I just kept communicating and talking to him ... I managed to just say to him 'look, I want to go home, I want to see my son', and he told me that I could go."
Riley didn't have time to think much - the adrenaline was pumping and he was determined to keep the gunman's focus on him, and away from customers.
"Everything seemed like it was in slow motion ... I guess I took a leap of faith with him and just tried to communicate as much as I could with him."
Police at the scene of the 2015 armed incident at the Upper Hutt McDonald's for which Michael Scott Riley was awarded the New Zealand Bravery Decoration. Photo / Hagen Hopkins
Riley was saddened to see the state Smiler was in.
"It's sad to think that he'd come to a point where there was no way out for him. So he was very up and down. It was sad to see that he felt that he had no other way to come out of it. So I just tried to do what I could within the time frame that we were together, to try to help, I guess. But he was very adamant about what was going to happen."
When Smiler eventually let Riley leave, he went out the back to find staff members still milling about, and three women sitting in a car. He sent everyone to find shelter behind nearby cars, and put a traffic cone in the drive thru to stop more cars from coming in.
Shortly afterwards, Smiler, who had fired at and narrowly missed an approaching officer, was fatally shot by police.
Riley had to take some time off work after the incident, but said having a strong support network helped him get past it. He no longer works at McDonald's but often visits and sees many of the same staff and regular clientele that were there that day.
"That day was quite a big day we'll never forget, obviously, for me and the staff and the people involved," Riley said.
He was "quite overwhelmed" to find he was receiving the New Zealand Bravery Decoration.
"I didn't see why I would get it, I didn't think I deserved it at all because I don't think I did really that much. It wasn't until I talked to my family about it, that sort of convinced me to fill out the paperwork required for it."
Nearly three years on, Riley has only compassion for Smiler.
"I wish I could have done more for him, in the sense that the only thing I would change is that I was able to walk out with him.
