Watch live: Detective Senior Sergeant Martin Friend will provide an update on an Auckland road rage incident that left a teenage girl with serious injuries after she was shot. Video / NZ Herald
A manhunt is under way after a 15-year-old girl was shot following a road rage incident on an Auckland motorway.
Police are working to piece together the events of the late-night incident, which ended when the vehicle with its rear window shattered by a bullet stopped at a St Lukes petrol station, its occupants seeking refuge after being pursued for several kilometres.
Detective Senior Sergeant Martin Friend said the girl will be discharged from the hospital today, and “it is some luck” that police are not dealing with a homicide investigation.
Police this afternoon released details of the vehicle of interest linked to the incident.
“It is a 2009 grey Mazda Axela NGL15 [licence plate],” Friend said. “Be cautious if they see this vehicle and call the police.”
The family was supporting the victim, Friend said.
Police said the incident started on the Southern Motorway near Mt Wellington Highway and continued north, until reaching St Lukes, Friend said.
“We are looking for anyone who saw the vehicle or witnessed subsequent shots fired.”
Essentially, the incident was “hard braking”, Friend said, describing what sparked the road rage. He said three shots were fired.
“There were [five] family members inside the vehicle,” Friend said of the vehicle that was targeted.
“We don’t know the calibre of the weapon but it has gone through the vehicle and into the victim.”
Another person was moderately injured but did not suffer gunshot wounds, police said.
“We are unsure at this stage which direction the offending vehicle left in,” Friend said. “Our priority is to support the victim in this matter and bring charges in this matter.”
Police at the scene of the Z Sandringham on the intersection of Balmoral and Sandringham Rds, Auckland after a teenage girl was shot. Photo / Hayden Woodward
Earlier, Friend said a hatchback and a minivan got into a dispute while travelling towards Auckland city on the Southern Motorway.
“The driver of the hatchback has taken exception to the minivan and has begun to drive in an aggressive manner,” said Friend.
Armed police stand guard at the Z petrol station in Sandringham, Auckland. Photo / Hayden Woodward
Both cars continued onto the Northwestern Motorway and exited at the St Lukes Rd off-ramp.
A young woman sitting in the back of the van was shot near the intersection with Asquith Ave around 10pm.
Details surrounding the mystery hatchback are scant with police not revealing which direction it fled in.
A Mt Albert resident living in a street near the Z petrol station where the shot-at vehicle pulled in for help said she heard a car screaming down Leslie Ave between 10.30pm and 10.45pm.
Another local reported seeing a group abandon a hatchback in their street before running off.
A police spokesperson said they have “no tolerance” for the disregard of others’ safety by the occupants of the hatchback.
“Police are appalled at the reckless violence exhibited towards innocent members of the public.”
The minivan stopped at a petrol station on Sandringham Rd and police were called. The teenager was taken to Auckland City Hospital.
Asquith Ave, where the girl was shot, is more than 2km from the petrol station.
Police at the scene of the Z Sandringham on the intersection of Balmoral and Sandringham Rds, Auckland after a teenage girl was shot. Photo / Hayden Woodward
Armed officers were guarding the Z service station on the intersection of Balmoral and Sandringham Rds this morning.
Photos show a minivan with a bullet hole in the back window outside the service station.
