Gas threat sparks terror

Officers wore gas masks and oxygen canisters. Photo / Herald on Sunday

Armed police yesterday sealed off a suburban Auckland street after a woman barricaded herself in her home and threatened to release highly-toxic gas.

The woman claimed to have hydrogen sulphide, prompting police to call in a negotiator who spent 40 minutes trying to coax her out of the small basement flat in Onehunga.

The 36-year-old refused to leave her flat and, at about 12.45pm, specialist officers kitted out with gas masks and oxygen canisters smashed their way in and led her outside.

She was put into a decontamination shower set up on Trafalgar St by the Fire Service, and taken into police custody wearing a white boiler suit.

No evidence of the gas was found. Hydrogen sulphide is colourless, poisonous and flammable gas which smells like rotten eggs.

The drama began about 10am, and shortly after police received a call about the woman's threat. The Herald on Sunday understands she has a history of mental illness and made the call herself.

Bhisum and Gita Chand live in the flat above the woman, and said police visited her regularly.

Bhisum and the couple's children, Nikhil, 10, and Nikansha, 4, were ordered out of their home about an hour before the woman was brought out.

Gita, who came home from work to find the street cordoned off, waited anxiously to find out if her family was in danger.

Bhisum said it was "very scary" and he was relieved when police said they could leave their home. When his wife phoned from outside the cordon, he told her the children were "really afraid".

Nikhil was particularly frightened by seeing police with guns and hearing the woman downstairs screaming.

He said: "She was saying to the police that if they came in she would kill herself. She was fighting with them from inside, she was yelling and swearing. I heard them break the door, it sounded like something exploding, a big bang."

The woman cried and abused officers as she was led away, Nikhil added.

Another neighbour, Samantha Newby-Whybrow, was stranded outside the cordon, while her husband and two young daughters were inside their house.

And a woman, separated from her partner and 3-year-old son by the cordon, said the incident reminded her of the London bombings.

"I left the UK for this reason, now I'm right up the street. It's frightening when you don't know what's happening and there's so many question marks."

Inspector Shawn Rutene refused to confirm what substance the woman had, but said serious action needed to be taken as a precaution.

"It's fair to say we were taking a very precautionary approach towards it. The substance in our mind is something we need to take very seriously," he said.

It was too early to say what the woman would be charged with, and Rutene would not be drawn on whether she was going into psychiatric care or to the police cells for the weekd.

He confirmed she was known to police but refused to say if she had done anything similar in the past.

"She has a history ... which is why we took it seriously today."

After the woman was removed from the flat, Fire Service staff specialising in hazardous materials searched the area wearing bright orange protective suits and carrying oxygen.

About 20 minutes later firefighters cleared the decontamination showers and residents returned to their homes.

- additional reporting Celeste Gorrell Anstiss