Tense footage has emerged of a police standoff at an Auckland supermarket where they pulled their guns on a young man who allegedly took an imitation firearm onto a bus.
It shows armed officers, Tasers drawn, walking towards the underground carpark at Woolworths Quay St downtown on Saturday.
A man is standing near the entrance. Police yell at him to “get on the ground” repeatedly.
He then gets down and lies on his stomach. Other officers are seen pointing rifles at the man.
Meanwhile, members of the public watch the standoff from further inside the carpark.
More armed police run towards the building before the shaky video ends.
The young man was arrested after an “incident involving an imitation firearm” on a bus on Saturday morning.
Police got a report at 11.24am there was a person on a bus heading to Auckland City from Ōrākei with a firearm.
A police spokesman said the bus stopped on Quay St and two people – a man and a woman – got off and entered a nearby supermarket.
Armed police arrived on the scene quickly and located the pair exiting through the supermarket carpark and safely took them into custody.
Officers found a fake gun on one of the people, police said.
A young man was arrested and was due to be referred to Youth Aid.
Raphael Franks is an Auckland-based reporter who covers breaking news and local stories from Tāmaki Makaurau. He joined the Herald as a Te Rito cadet in 2022.
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