Killer walks into bullets

Police tend to a man shortly after he was shot in the main street of Henderson yesterday. Picture / Murray Job / 3 News

A knife-wielding man kept advancing against police bullets yesterday after fatally wounding a bystander just metres from a West Auckland main street.

Two other people were injured during an apparently unprovoked catalogue of violence amid lunchtime shoppers in busy Railside Ave, Henderson.

Police last night named the dead bystander as Kevan Bruce Newman, a 65-year-old heavy-vehicle driving instructor of Mt Albert.

The drama began at 12.55pm when a man in his 30s entered sports goods shop Norcross Fishing World and brandished a knife at owner Robert Norcross.

Mr Norcross, who sells fishing tackle and ammunition, swung a ladder to defend himself but was slashed across his lower right arm and shoulder before fleeing out of the rear of his shop with one of his staff, leaving a trail of blood behind him.

Police said their attacker chased them, but then returned to Railside Ave, where he crossed the road and stabbed Mr Newman on the pavement.

Mr Newman died of his wounds in an ambulance on the way to hospital.

Witness Ken Wang, who runs a second-hand tool shop, said he saw a man in the street clutching his stomach and calling for help.

"I called the ambulance - there was lots of blood."

The knife-wielding man crossed the road again, where he was challenged by at least two armed police to put down his weapon.

But he bore down on them and was shot several times.

Police spokeswoman Philippa White said the man kept advancing on the officers, who were not members of the armed offenders squad, even after being hit by the first bullet.

She said it took the bravery of a parking meter reader, who tackled the knifeman and was slashed during the fracas, to bring him to the ground.

The meter reader and Mr Norcross were taken to Auckland City Hospital.

Mr Norcross, who would not talk about his ordeal, was expected to remain in hospital overnight.

The devastated family of Mr Newman said he went out of his way to help people and always put others first. He was a "loved partner, loved brother, loved by many friends," his family said.

Through a friend at their Mt Albert home, the family said they had "lots of good memories and will be sadly missed by us all."

The Police Complaints Authority has been notified and will investigate, but the police issued a statement last night in which they said they were "left with no alternative other than to shoot".

The statement said police issued warnings to the man to put the knife down "but he continued to advance." They said it was clear the attacks on Mr Norcross and Mr Newman were unprovoked and there was no attempt to rob either victim.

"It seems it was a very bizarre situation, it was unprovoked," Ms White said.

The knifeman, who police said was noticed lurking about the area in the morning by witnesses who thought he looked "disturbed", was last night in a serious but stable condition in hospital.

He had yet to be interviewed or charged.

A witness to the shooting, 15-year-old Kelston Boys High School student Ian Kirkpatrick, said he saw the man running and trying to attack a woman police officer.

He was in the back of his parents' car as it stopped at a red light at the intersection of Gt North Rd and Railside Ave, metres from the shooting.

"The officer was walking backwards and the man, who was holding a knife, continued following," he said.

He told the Herald it was the policewoman who opened fire, but Ms White was adamant last night that it was a male officer who shot the knifeman.

"She shot at him three or four times and he seemed to be hit in the thigh before a member of the public ran up and tackled him from behind," Ian said.

"I was surprised, to say the least, and Mum yelled to me to 'get down'."

The meter-reader was not the only hero of the hour, according to witnesses.

Sosefo Sime, of Pasifika Consulting further along Railside Ave, said Mr Norcross staggered into his building from the rear of the sports shop bleeding badly and concerned that one of his younger staff was still inside. He tried to staunch Mr Norcross' wounds with tea-towels and sent one of his own staff members, Murray Conroy, to the sports shop to check on the young attendant.

Mr Conroy said last night that the shop was "pretty smashed up" but he was too shaken to talk any more about the ordeal.

His boss, Mr Sime, described him "as a really brave sort of character".

Witness Sam Pootinun said he saw one of the stab victims come out of the shop with blood on his hand and get into the ambulance.

He said that sort of violence worried him. "Sometimes I have my 3-year-old son in the office with me and it is not very nice."

About 50m of the northern end of Railside Ave remained cordoned off last night as a 30-strong police team and forensic scientists continued their investigation.

Police vehicles took at least 12 witnesses away to give statements, but were appealing for more information.

- Additional reporting: Louisa Cleave, NZPA