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Manukau residents are living in fear after the third homicide in the city in just over a week.
Joanne Wang, 39, died yesterday after being hit by a vehicle carrying a person who snatched her handbag from inside her car outside Westfield Manukau about 3.30pm on Monday.
Her horrified 8-year-old son witnessed the incident, which follows the violent robbery and death of Manurewa liquor store owner Navtej Singh, 30, and 80-year-old Yang Yin Ping, who died after being viciously assaulted in her own home.
Counties Manukau police, who are investigating the three homicides, say they don't believe crime is escalating.
But the series of horrific offences has created a feeling of unease in the city. Stunned shoppers at Westfield Manukau yesterday expressed shock at the level of violence over such a short period.
Many spoken to by the Herald, only metres from the hit-and-run scene, said they believed rising P use, unemployment and increasing living costs were factors behind the string of high- profile crimes.
One man called the offenders in the hit-and-run death "scoundrels".
"It's just terrible," he said. "I just feel so sorry for that little boy. His own mother being mowed down by some hoodlums. I hope they get caught."
The man said police needed more resources to deal with crime and he wanted politicians and police management in Wellington to do something about it.
A Manukau woman said she was sickened by the news of the past week. "It's just absolutely atrocious. For the families it's heartbreaking. The whole community, I think, is feeling exactly the same."
The woman's elderly mother said she was at the mall with her daughter because she no longer felt safe going alone. "Especially doing my banking," she said. "I'm not prepared to take a risk there."
Asked if they had any solutions to the problem, the elderly woman said: "They should pick them up one by one and give them a good hiding."
Her daughter added: "Eliminate the gangs. If you've got them as individuals they're not as brave."
Lyrae Minhinnick, who had recently moved from West Auckland to Mangere, was shocked by the latest incident. "That is so wrong. What is the world coming to? All over a bag. Instead of taking her bag, they took her life. Imagine that, in front of a child."
Ms Minhinnick, and several others, noted unemployment as a factor in the offending, saying people were struggling for money and had too much time on their hands.
* Three murders
Saturday June 7: Navtej Singh, 30, is shot during a robbery of his business Riverton Liquor in Riverton Rd, Manurewa. He died in Middlemore Hospital the next night.
Wednesday June 11: Yang Yin Ping, 80, is attacked in her Manurewa home and left inside a wardrobe. She died from her injuries on Saturday afternoon.
Monday June 16: Joanne Wang, 39, is run over by a vehicle as she protested over her handbag being stolen in Manukau. She died early yesterday.
