22 hours of sheer terror that left 13 people dead

Fifteen years ago this month, New Zealand was gripped by an outrage which terrorised the quiet Otago coastal settlement of Aramoana for 22 hours until police shot dead a gunman who killed 13 people.

Those slain by David Malcolm Gray included four children, two aged 6 and two aged 11. His youngest victim was 4-year-old Stacey Percy, who survived a gunshot wound but lost both her parents and her 6-year-old brother Dion. Chiquita Holden, aged 9, also recovered from being shot but her father Garry and 11-year-old sister Jasmine were killed.

The nightmare began at 7.30pm on November 13, 1990, when Garry Holden's house caught fire and neighbour Dorothy Crimp heard gunshots. Her husband Vic, 71, became Gray's oldest victim.

Several people who rushed to the house took cover after being shot at.

Sergeant Stewart Guthrie of the Port Chalmers police was shot dead when he confronted Gray outside the 33-year-old gunman's house.

Police could not find Gray in the dark, but the next morning surrounded a house where he was believed to be holed up. Gray was felled by police bullets at a second house at 5.55pm after allegedly screaming, "Kill me, kill me".