Large police presence at Massey home after petrol station robbery. Video / Dean Purcell
Police have taken a male into custody after a large police response - including the Armed Offenders Squad and police negotiators - gathered at a standoff in a Massey neighbourhood.
Armed police set up a cordon at a Cedar Heights Ave residence, after reports the suspect may have a gun, according to Inspector Shawn Rutene, of Tāmaki Makaurau Police.
Rutene confirmed a number of surrounding properties were evacuated.
A man is assisting police and will face charges relating to a petrol station incident.
Police said a suspect stole two handbags at a Mobil petrol station in Henderson at about 7.48am and was tracked to the nearby address. Photo / Hayden Woodward
Initial information was that there was an aggravated robbery, however further inquiries established the offender was in a stolen vehicle.
The indivudal resisted arrest once police arrived and fled the scene.
Police located a firearm at the address and the firearm has now been seized.
Armed police have set up a cordon at a Cedar Heights Ave residence, after reports the suspect may have a gun. Photo / Supplied
The response has included an ambulance, a Fire and Emergency NZ vehicle and about 24 police officers, including about 16 members of the Armed Offenders Squad, according to a witness nearby.
Police presence at the scene. Photo / Hayden Woodward
A neighbour who asked not to be identified by name told the Herald she could hear police yelling repeatedly to a house next door for a person in an upstairs room to "please put the firearm on the roof".
About five people have left the surrounded house. But last she saw, before she was evacuated with her two small children, the standoff was continuing, she said.
Police presence at the scene. Photo / Hayden Woodward
"I heard these neighbours outside this morning have a bit of a scuffle in the communal driveway," she said, explaining that about six officers later arrived wearing gloves and masks.
"And then they started coming in with guns."
Police respond to a standoff in Massey. Photo / Dean Purcell
Initially, the woman said, she put her children in a bedroom with a very loud DVD in the hope they wouldn't hear anything from outside.
Police later told the family to leave the house with the door open - shuffling them out the door so quickly they weren't able to get car seats for the children.
But she's lucky, she said, she has family in her lockdown bubble nearby - outside the cordoned area.
Armed police cordon off a Massey neighbourhood during an armed stand-off at a nearby residence. Photo / Dean Purcell
"Most of the other neighbours are just standing in the street with their kids," she said.
Police were seen inspecting a Toyota Hilux that had previously been reported as stolen.
Police said a suspect stole two handbags at a Mobil petrol station in Henderson at about 7.48am and was tracked to the nearby address. Photo / Hayden Woodward
Police ensured those evacuated remained in their bubbles, wore face masks and had hand sanitiser.
