Taser operator not available for shot-actor incident

Rob Mokaraka came at police with a meat cleaver. Photo / Supplied

Police say they couldn't get a Taser operator to a standoff with an armed man within an hour because few officers are trained to use the weapons.

Police were called to the standoff in Pt Chevalier with actor Rob Mokaraka shortly after 12 noon on Monday.

By the time a police officer shot him at about 1pm, a Taser had not yet reached the scene. The armed offenders squad had also been called but failed to get there within the hour.

Police spokeswoman Noreen Hegarty said yesterday that armed offenders squad officers had to be pulled off other duties and briefed at Auckland's Central Police Station, before being sent to the incident.

Mokaraka became so agitated he came at police with a meat cleaver.

The 36-year-old actor was shot in the chest as he advanced with another unknown weapon under a blanket. The Police Conduct Authority is investigating the incident.

Ms Hegarty said the armed offenders squad were on call and had to be "briefed and equipped before being deployed".

She said Taser operators were "few and don't work 24/7".

Mokaraka's flatmate Linda Turner said she did not blame police for the shooting - despite having no idea how it came about.

Distantly related by marriage to Napier Senior Constable Bruce Miller, who was shot at and critically wounded by gunman Jan Molenaar in May, she "probably would have done the same thing".

The Napier gun siege, in which Senior Constable Len Snee was shot dead, was a lesson for police, she said.

"They [police] didn't know anything about Rob and what he was like or anything."

Last night Mokaraka was in a stable condition at Auckland City Hospital, after surgeons spent three hours removing the bullet from his chest.

Police are still investigating what triggered the incident, which friends of Mokaraka say came without warning and was completely out of character.

The incident has added fuel to the Taser debate, reignited last week after a Western Australian glue sniffer armed with a petrol can and lighter, caught alight when police fired at him.

Campaign Against the Taser spokeswoman Marie Dyhrberg would not comment on the Pt Chevalier case, as it was before the courts.

But she said that generally speaking - although "anything was better than getting shot, if possible" - police had to judge each case on its merits.

"Where possible it is of course much better to use a Taser than something lethal, but there will be times where a Taser can't be used and they have to resort to lethal use. So long as it's all open and transparent then that's what they'll have to do."