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Police say it is unclear whether an armed man shot dead by an officer in rural Hawke's Bay early this morning had fired his weapon.
The man was shot by an officer with a standard issue Glock pistol in Fernhill, about 15km from Napier, around 1.30am and died in hospital about 3am.
The incident happened after a Napier police night shift patrol noticed a man acting suspiciously near a vehicle parked on Wordsworth Crescent in suburban Maraenui, eastern district commander Superintendent Sam Hoyle said.
The man pointed a gun when approached and police immediately retreated.
He then drove away to Fernhill on the outskirts of Napier and was followed at a distance by several police cars with flashing lights before abruptly stopping and getting out of his car on Taihape Rd, near the intersection with Korokipo Rd.
He again pointed the gun at police and was shot by an officer.
Officers immediately attempted first aid before the man was taken to Hawke's Bay Regional Hospital by ambulance, where he later died.
Mr Hoyle said inquiries into the shooting were at an early stage and police were speaking to the officers involved to determine how the shooting happened.
"The investigation is only a few hours old and we'll know more later in the day," he told Radio New Zealand.
"We do know that one police officer fired shots at the man with a Glock pistol."
Mr Hoyle said the man had been armed with a "long firearm" that he agreed could have been a rifle or shotgun.
It was not yet clear whether the man fired his weapon.
Asked if only one policeman had been armed, Mr Hoyle said only one officer fired shots.
"There were other weapons there in the cars. Exact details about which other officers had armed themselves from their vehicles, we'll find out when the investigation is completed."
The man was "not at all" cornered, Mr Hoyle said.
"He had a number of options open to him including keeping on driving."
More would be known about the man's behaviour when officers were interviewed today.
Mr Hoyle said police would be trying to find out why the dead man was in a suburban Napier street in the early hours of the morning with a gun.
"There are many questions we don't have the answers to at the moment and things will become clearer in due course. "
The officer who fired the fatal shot had not been stood down but his shift had finished.
"We're obviously working to support him and the other officers who had the firearm presented at them," Mr Hoyle said.
"It is traumatic for all the officers involved, having the firearm presented at them and then ending as it did."
Several investigations have begun into the shooting, including an Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) inquiry and a homicide investigation which will be headed by a senior officer from outside the district.
A post mortem examination will be held today to confirm the man's cause of death and a forensic examination of the scene is under way.
Police are yet to identify the man and contact his family.
The incident follows three police shooting deaths in recent years.
Halatau Naitoko, 17, a courier, was accidentally shot and killed in crossfire on Auckland's northwestern motorway following the dramatic police pursuit of gunman Stephen Hohepa McDonald in January 2009.
The officer did not face charges, with the judge who sentenced McDonald to 13 years jail agreeing police were not to blame.
Truck driver Richard Neville, who was injured by shrapnel from the shooting as McDonald tried to hijack his truck, is suing police for gross negligence and mental trauma.
Armed drug addict Lee Jane Mettam, 37, was shot dead by a member of the armed offenders squad in Whangarei in October 2008 after she took a shop assistant hostage.
The IPCA found the officer was justified in the shooting.
Christchurch man Stephen Bellingham, 37, was shot dead as he ran towards a police officer with a hammer during a destructive window-smashing rampage in September 2007.
The IPCA found the officer had acted in self-defence.
- NZPA
