Mongrel Mob and Black Power leadership are doing their best to contain rising tensions after a Mob member was fatally shot three days ago, a gang rehabilitation advocate says.
Lifetime Black Power member and gang rehabilitation advocate Denis O’Reilly confirmed to Morning Report that the man who died was a Mongrel Mob member.
He said the violence was a “spontaneous” thing that could happen when people were intoxicated on substances like meth.
“S**t happens you know and then you’ve got to try and get on top of it and ensure that it doesn’t make it any worse.
“It’s to some degree random, a bit like [an outbreak] or whatever, some kind of public health issue, you get on top of it, you find out where the contagion started.”
O’Reilly said he did not think the general community needed to be worried.
“I don’t think closing the community centres is necessary but I understand it entirely. Hopefully we get on top of this quickly and perpetrators are held to account in the court of law.”
Palmerston North was currently a “border town” for gang members who did not want to adhere by set gang rules, O’Reilly said.
Mongrel Mob Member. Photo / Hawke's Bay Today
“When leadership start putting strictures on people, saying this is how we’re going to behave, if you don’t want to abide by those things, you might go to another area.
“Palmerston North looks to be one of those areas where people [have] congregated, it’s a border town if you like and it takes some time for control to be exerted.
“The confounding thing is, is that if someone’s intoxicated, you know, on methamphetamine, you’re hyper-aroused, it becomes pretty difficult.”
But he said Mongrel Mob and Black Power leadership had good people on the ground in the area doing their best to contain the situation.
Mob leadership were working co-operatively with police and were in dialogue with Black Power, O’Reilly said.
He also commended the police on how they had handled the rising tensions so far.
“I think the way police have gone about these things is pretty smart.
“They’ve unleashed their community networks but they’re also using the new laws and existing laws to hold people to account.”
Police had invoked new powers under the Criminal Activity Intervention Legislation Act, which came into force in April, allowing them to search suspected gang members and their vehicles during “times of conflict”.
Manawatū Area Police Commander Inspector Ross Grantham told Morning Report there was already additional staff in the area.
“We’ve got 30 investigators on the investigation, we’ve got 14 investigators from out of town, we’ve got our armed offenders squad and our specialist teams out and about doing their work.”
Denis O'Reilly and Inspector Ross Grantham. Photo / RNZ
He said police were also grateful to Māori wardens who had been supporting whānau and agencies to provide a reassuring presence in our community.
“We’re crafting a plan for additional out-of-district staff for the next few days.
“We’ve noticed the suppression in gang movement around the city,” he said.
Inspector Grantham said the investigation team were working on a strong line of inquiry and had made good progress.
Police had cleared the scene and the victim had been removed in the presence of family and there had been a formal blessing of the site, he said.
“The home’s been handed back to the whānau and the victim has undergone postmortem examination and is now being returned to his family.”
Grantham said one of the goals now was to get all the gang leaders in the same room and have a meeting, although there was no timeframe on that so far.
“We have reached out to the gangs, however ... some have reached out to us as well and wanting police assistance to get the groups together to resolve it so that’s very positive.”
