KEY POINTS:
Police scoured the bush covered hills above Lower Hutt today for victims after three people were shot, one of whom died, in a dramatic conclusion to the hunt for convicted murderer Graeme William Burton.
Burton, released on parole in the middle of last year, was recaptured at 6pm. He is in hospital after being shot in the leg.
But police don't know the extent of the carnage that surrounded Burton's capture. They appealed to the public to contact the Lower Hutt police if friends who were in the area did not come home.
What is known is that three people on the firebreak between the top of the Wainuiomata Hill Rd and Summit Rd were shot. One person died. Police are not naming the person, though they believe they know who it is.
Two other people are also being treated in hospital after being assaulted.
The firebreak is being guarded overnight and a scene examination will continue tomorrow.
TV One News reported earlier that a father and daughter who were mountain biking said they encountered Burton on the track. The daughter said the man they believed to be Burton said: "There's one guy already dead back there you want to co-operate".
The daughter has arm injuries and the father has a broken nose.
The incident comes after an armed home invasion in Lower Hutt last night. TV One News reported that one of the victims of the home invasion was convinced it was Burton.
Burton, 35, has been on the run since Wednesday after allegedly beating a man in central Wellington.
Police warned Wellington residents to keep their distance if they saw a man fitting Burton's description.
A warrant for his arrest had been issued in December after he breached parole conditions.
Since his release Burton had accumulated an arsenal of weapons, some of which were the same as those used by police.
Burton's associate Scott Elliott, 29, was captured and appeared in Wellington District Court charged with wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm for the same incident, and police searching another central city address found an arsenal of weapons.
Burton's release has been criticised by the Sensible Sentencing Trust and Duty Minister Ruth Dyson said the Government was asking for a report on the reasons for parole being granted and whether or not the conditions of the parole were adequate to ensure public safety.
Sensible Sentencing Trust spokesman Garth McVicar has said the justice system was so lenient on recidivist offenders it created more victims.
Mr McVicar was particularly worried about the impact on the family of the man Burton was convicted of stabbing to death in 1992.
He said the family pleaded with the parole board not to let Burton out, but as ever, the system failed to listen to the victims.
In 1992, Burton was reportedly high on a cocktail of six different drugs when he plunged a 10cm knife into nightclub lighting technician Paul Neville Anderson with such force that he lifted him off the ground.
- NZPA
