KEY POINTS:
Cook Islands police holding a former Aucklander who shot three locals on the remote atoll of Pukapuka in the northern Cooks have not disclosed his motives.
The man, 19, sent out to Rarotonga as a teenager, shot Niua school principal Bob Tearetoa, his wife Ngatere Tearetoa, both from the Aitutaki community, and another man, Kiriti Mataora, Radio Niu FM reported.
The man went on a shooting rampage in Pukapuka at 2am on Saturday, when he entered the home of the principal, shooting Mrs Tearetoa in her left thumb, then shooting her husband in the left forearm. Mr Mataora was shot in the back and buttocks.
Police said the gun used was stolen from the house of a registered firearms owner.
An Air Raro charter flight brought in a doctor and police from Rarotonga, and he was taken into custody.
Radio Niu FM reported that some Cook Islanders are angry about the shooting and that the man's family sent him to Rarotonga three years ago because of brushes with the law in New Zealand.
Chief Inspector Tero Atini said the man had been known to police since he arrived on the island in 2004. "In 2005, when he turned 16, we had no alternative but to have him arrested. The man was charged for criminal activity and served time in the Cook Island jail."
Locals yesterday renewed calls for New Zealand to stop sending troubled youth and criminals back to the islands.
- NZPA
