A 25-year-old man has been taken into custody after a stand-off with police that lasted over 10 hours and left schools in the Lower Hutt suburb of Taitā locked down.
Residents heard loud sirens and yelling, and watched armed officers chase a man down the road earlier today during the police stand-off.
Police cordoned off the area on High St about 9.30am, following a report of a man in possession of a firearm at an address with three other occupants.
“The other three occupants were able to come free of the address unharmed around 10.30am and the Armed Offenders Squad and the police negotiation team remained engaged with the man over the course of the day,” police said.
Shortly before 8pm, police entered the address and a man was taken into custody.
“We would like to thank the community for bearing with us today while we worked to resolve a situation that could have had a very different outcome,” said Inspector Nick Thom.
Schools which earlier confirmed they were in lockdown as a precaution were Avalon Intermediate School, Naenae College and Naenae Intermediate.
Police negotiators are speaking with an armed man at a Lower Hutt home. Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
“Police recognise how unsettling this has been - particularly for the younger members of our community and their parents when schools went into lockdown,” said Thom.
Local police would remain in the community over the coming days offering reassurance to those affected.
“The 25-year-old man is due to appear in Hutt Valley District Court on February 28 facing charges in relation to the incident,” police said.
Rhys Peneha came to pick up his friend’s child from a school in Taitā after hearing it was put into lockdown.
“We heard sirens this morning and then heard all the schools were on lockdown, so we came to pick up her son. Then seeing all the cops with guns so we thought we need to get here. And then the police officer told us someone’s been agitated, running round with a gun or something.”
He said he has a lot of friends whose children go to schools affected by the police operation so it had been a scary morning.
Local YG Tray said he saw police run after a man outside his house.
“We seen the bro jump the fence and then the bro put his hands up like, you know, he wasn’t going anywhere, like he was waving a white flag. But then he ended up sprinting down that driveway all the way down to the end so we thought he was going to pop outside the other way but they [the police] already blocked that out.”
Tray said the man was not holding a weapon when he saw him.
Taitā resident Josh Bryant said police told him not to leave his home until the stand-off was over.
“I’m not allowed to leave until all of this is stopped. I’ve got work to do, so I had to stay home. I took the day off... All I’ve been told is that it’s going to take a while.”
He said the police presence in the suburb had been huge.
A helicopter could this morning be heard flying overhead in Avalon.
Businesses near the cordon earlier said police had not explained what was happening but officers were on the road holding guns.
One shop worker said traffic was being turned around and rerouted to avoid the scene.
Residents were asked to avoid the area as a significant police presence responded to the “serious assault” on High St about 5.20pm on Monday.
Police confirmed one person was transported to hospital in a critical condition.
An employee at the BP petrol station at the intersection told the Heralda mechanic from the auto repair shop behind them was attacked and had been taken to hospital.
One local resident took to social media, saying their son had seen a body lying on the ground.
