A man was shot in the face with an air-pistol by a ginger-haired assailant who laughed as he drove away, police say.
The victim was shot just below the eye yesterday while standing by his car at a rest area in the Waioeka Gorge, between Gisborne and Opotiki.
The 20-year-old man was driving back to Auckland's North Shore from the Rhythm and Vines festival in Gisborne with friends and had stopped about midday, police said.
The driver got out of the car and was standing beside the vehicle.
As a line of traffic passed, a person in the passenger seat of a dark-coloured SUV pointed an air-pistol at the driver and his car.