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Two men were last night been charged with unlawful assembly by police investigating the drive-by shooting of a toddler in Wanganui
The men will appear in Wanganui District Court today and police say more people are being sought.
A Wanganui Black Power leader who held the 2-year-old victim
of a drive-by shooting as she was dying said the incident was the result of a turf war with the Mongrel Mob.
The little girl, Jhia Harmony Te Tua, died as she was handed to her distraught mother by one of the gang's local leaders, Kat Manuel.
He told the Herald that Jhia died almost immediately after Mongrel Mob members allegedly pulled up in a car and fired shots at her home at 10pm on Saturday.
The bullet hit the toddler, who was sitting on a couch in the front room.
Mr Manuel said Black Power had converged on the Puriri St home on the evening of the shooting "just to be there by our bro" because of earlier threats.
"We heard rumours of them coming out to the hood ... to rark up."
Asked whether members were at the home expecting a fight, Mr Manuel said: "Threats are chucked constantly every day from both sides so it wasn't so much that, it was just being there for our brother [Josh, Jhia's father]."
Mr Manuel said: "I think it's about them trying to come out into our community and try and start something up for themselves down here.
"But this community has always been our community for a lifetime - 20-years plus. Most of our children have been raised here in this area and brothers aren't content to sit back and take that, I suppose."
Mr Manuel said he was in the driveway of the Puriri St property when the shooting occurred.
About an hour earlier there was another gang-related incident outside the home. Witnesses said it involved two cars ramming another car and trying to run people off the road.
"They just came back and that's all I know ... came racing back," Mr Manuel said.
"Shots were fired. Members scattered - ran in different directions - and then a few seconds later there was a scream from inside the house.
"The mother came out of the house screaming that her baby had been shot. At the time members were still running, scampering for cover ... I was standing next to the father.
"She passed the baby to my bro, the father, and he passed her to me, and then I gave her back to the mother and basically she just died then."
Members were grieving over the loss, Mr Manuel said.
"It's very sad. Devastation is definitely amongst the brothers this time, and a lot of anger.
"There's a bit of guilt ... feeling of, you know, feeling a bit responsible."
Police have drafted in officers from outside Wanganui and armed staff are conducting "24/7" patrols of the city amid fears of retaliation.
But Mr Manuel said that was not a priority for members right now.
"Our main thing is to rally behind our bro and his partner and support them."
Police said they were looking into reports of tension between the gangs after a fight broke out on Saturday on the sidelines of a rugby league match.
Mr Manuel said he was aware of "an altercation" but "we've had a few run-ins throughout the week - it wasn't so much the rugby".
He also said Black Power was "family-based. I don't see us as a gang, I see us as a whanau."
There were three Black Power clubs in Wanganui, with 30 to 40 members.
Mr Manuel said he had known Jhia since she was born.
"She was a very curious girl. When she came home she'd be looking through everything."
Her father Josh often spoke proudly of Jhia to other members and her mother was an excellent mum, he said.
Mr Manuel said he did not know what would occur between Black Power and the Mongrel Mob but for Black Power it was "definitely back to the drawing board to reassess".
Police would be present at Jhia's funeral, which will be held outside Wanganui on Thursday.
Area commander Inspector Duncan MacLeod called on gang leaders to make it clear that retaliation was not acceptable.
Police had been given some names of potential suspects but the inquiry had a long way to go.
They had taken items from the home, including at least one spent cartridge from a "high-powered rifle".
Jhia's parents arrived at the home together yesterday and spoke with police briefly before being given some items from the house.
A family friend said she and another woman had desperately tried to resuscitate Jhia.
"They were trying to take the baby to the hospital but it was too late."
