Two people dead in Nelson motor camp shooting

Police on the scene at Maitai Motor Camp, where 2 bodies were found today. Photo / NZPA

Two people have been found dead in a caravan at a Nelson camping ground after shots were heard there today.

Police were called to the camp after somebody heard bangs and screaming and another person reported seeing a man enter the caravan with a firearm, Acting Sergeant Brett Currie of Nelson police told the Nelson Mail.

The bodies of a man and a woman, believed to be in their 30s, were found in the caravan at the Maitai Valley Motor Camp by armed police early this afternoon after people reported hearing screaming and bangs.

Both appear to have died from gunshot wounds, Tasman District Commander Superintendent Gary Knowles told NZPA.

Police are treating the deaths as suspicious, but they are not looking for anyone else in what appears to be a murder suicide. There were no other injuries.

Armed police cordoned off the Maitai Valley Motor Camp in Maitai Valley Rd about noon.

Witnesses reported seeing a man with a gun and hearing two shots coming from the camp.

Campers returned to the ground this afternoon but a cordon would remain in place overnight.

"It (the scene) is frozen overnight ... and we'll be doing a thorough examination tomorrow morning to determine the cause and see exactly what happened," Mr Knowles said.

The couple's names would not be released until next of kin had been contacted, he said.

The Matai Valley was the scene of another shooting death last year.

In November last year Nelson man Troy Minto, 22, died from a single gunshot blast to the chest in Branford Park, at the entrance to the valley, during a reported argument over a woman.

Blair Robert McNaughton, 24, has been charged with his murder.

- NZPA