"Every time shots rang out I got a text saying 'Oh my God, Mum, we are on the floor'. They are hiding in one of the bedrooms that's the hardest for the guy to look into."
'FIVE SHOTS - THEN NOTHING'
Chaucer Rd resident Wayne Rollinson was having breakfast with his 12-year-old son when they heard gunshots around 9.30am.
"We just heard five shots. Very rapid - then nothing. We just looked at each other. We could tell that it was gun shots - it sounded like an automatic."
Mr Rollinson said within minutes after the shots were fired, the street was filled with members of the armed offenders squad, police and ambulance vehicles. "It's pretty scary - especially with them all running up the road with their guns and balaclavas.
"We've all been told to stay inside and away from the windows - there's usually cars going up and down the street and people outside. But now, the whole street looks dead."
Mr Rollinson said the armed offenders squad had been at a house on the street about two months ago.
"I don't know what it was about, but I think it was a P house," he said.
MARCHED TO SAFETY
Thirteen-year-old Eva Lichtenberg was at Napier Girls High School yesterday morning when she and hundreds of schoolmates were pulled out of class and marched into the school hall - out of danger.
Students were told very little initially, but rumours of a gunman and shootings were flying.
Her father Pete, a 48-year-old primary school teacher, tried to take Eva and her 11-year-old sister, Saar, to their Napier Terrace home after school, but found it was cordoned off.
He said they had friends they could spend the night with if needed.
FEARS FOR PARENTS
Dan Malone was caught outside the police cordon and prevented from getting home to his 94-year-old father and wife, who has Parkinson's disease.
The pair are unable to cook or do much else for themselves, but police told Mr Malone, 63, it was too unsafe to get to them.
He left his home about 8.45am to help a friend in Napier fix his car. When he returned about 9.30am the streets were cordoned off.
He was last night waiting for news at Napier Intermediate with his neighbour Mark Anderson, 54.
Mr Anderson had been in contact with his 42-year-old partner, Nikki Luke, who was sitting on the balcony of their house when she heard the first round of lot of gunshots.
Mr Anderson had tried to get home about 5.30pm after finishing his job as a union organiser in Hastings.
Mr Malone's 16-year-old grandson, Braedon Malone, was also at the school. Mr Malone said he would stay at a son's house in Napier if need be.
POLICE EVERYWHERE
A resident who lives close to the house where the shooting occurred said a number of bangs rang loudly outside at around 9.30am.
"I was going out to hang the washing when it happened - about seven to eight [shots] at least," she said.
"We just heard very, very loud bangs.
"Members of the armed offenders squad arrived soon after and were guarding the house where the incident occurred.
"We've got one in our garden and there are two more just under the trees down the road from us. It's really awful."
The resident said she had been told by police that three officers had been injured - one fatally - and that a member of the public had also been shot.
'I'M ON MY OWN'
Dot O'Dowd said she heard up to seven gunshots fired. "I was sitting outside in the sun and I heard the guns - I heard about five, six - might have been seven gunshots. I thought, 'What the heck's going on?"' She went back inside her house, and police and members of the armed offenders squad quickly cordoned off the road and told residents to stay indoors.
She said police were focusing on the area of the nearby Botanic Gardens park on nearby Chaucer Rd.
"[The offender] must have run in there. It's all going on here. It's scary. I'm on my own here."
SEPARATED AND WORRIED
Terry Brownlie, 79, was left on the outside of the police perimeter, worrying about his wife stuck at home just 300m from the gunman.
Mr Brownlie had left his home about 9.30am for a doctor's appointment when he saw the armed policemen at the end of Chaucer Rd.
"They let me out okay. If I'd known that I wasn't going to be able to get back in I wouldn't have left."
He had been in touch with his wife by phone but was unable to return. She was "doing okay" and he hoped to stay at his son's house on West Shore - a Napier suburb - last night.
STRANDED IN NAPIER
Edgar Zani and his friends were supposed to move to the South Island today, but as of last night they hadn't even started packing. The Argentinians - who moved to Napier two months ago - had everything they owned in their Farady St flat, including visa documents, passports, laptops, clothing and small furniture.
The group, all in their early 20s, were to drive down to Nelson, via the Cook Strait ferry, today.
Instead, police came to their door yesterday asking them to leave.
They had kept themselves busy for most of the day, and even visited the aquarium, but on returning at 4pm, they were still not allowed back home and weren't thrilled at the idea of spending the night sleeping at a school.
'WE DON'T EXPECT THIS'
Madeline Petrillo arrived in Napier two weeks ago after having lived in London.
"Nothing really happens here, apparently.
"We're from London, so we expect things like this there. We were just in the pub for a drink and people said it's usually quiet here."
The 33-year-old is due to start work as a probation officer on Monday after moving to New Zealand to work.
NOWHERE TO GO
Barry David, 55, from Los Angeles, has been in Napier for 10 days. With his home inside the police cordon, he had no idea where he was going to stay last night.
"I had these guys jump out at me in overalls and helmets and that was my greeting," he said. "They said, 'We can't let you go up there', but wouldn't tell me anything."
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