Hero cops: 'There wasn't much time to be scared'

Constable Nick Frederick (left) and constable Mike Nolan with their shot up police car after an incident at Waitakere Hospital where the two officers arrested a gunman. Photo / Dean Purcell

The unarmed police officers who confronted a gunman at Waitakere Hospital on Sunday say they are not heroes, they were just doing their job.

Constable Mike Nolan and Constable Nick Frederick were at the hospital dealing with an unrelated matter when a security guard alerted them to an incident outside the emergency department in the ambulance bay.

A man allegedly wanted by police after firing shots inside a Glenfield house had turned up at the hospital and was demanding medical help. He was allegedly armed with a shotgun and fired four shots at the vehicle.

The officers raced outside to try and contain the man, who has been granted name suppression, as the hospital went into lockdown.

As the gunman tried to drive off in a stolen car, Mr Nolan managed to get him to stop and kept yelling at him to stay where he was and put his hands up where he could see them. Meanwhile Mr Frederick ran to the damaged patrol car and retrieved a bushmaster rifle from the locked compartment in the boot.

He then approached the gunman and demanded he get out of the vehicle and lie on the concrete.

"As Nick was containing the man I raced to the patrol car where the glock pistol was in the safe in the front seat," Mr Nolan told the Herald today.

He then went back and helped Mr Frederick arrest the man.

As they handcuffed him, police backup arrived.

The pair were uninjured and returned to work the next day.

"There wasn't much time to be scared," said Mr Frederick.

"Everything happened pretty quickly," Mr Nolan added.

The officers said the incident had not yet sunk in properly, but seeing the bullet holes in the patrol car really brought home how lucky they had been.

Neither constable hesitated when asked if they would do it all over again.

"Definitely," said Mr Nolan.

"Absolutely," Mr Frederick agreed.

The alleged gunman appeared in the Waitakere District Court yesterday and was granted name suppression. He is facing 11 charges including attempted murder and unlawful possession of a firearm.