Shootout victim threatened killer the day before incident - court documents

Ranui Shooting victim Josh Roach

The victim of a West Auckland shootout threatened the man who killed him the day before the fatal incident, court documents show.

Contrary to previous reports, the court documents released to APNZ show the death of 23-year-old Josh Roach in a Ranui driveway was more than an impromptu neighbourly spat.

On May 21, Roach shot at brothers Trae and Ricky Lum, hitting the latter in the throat, before their 41-year-old father Allen George Lum returned fire.

Though friends of Roach said a witness - his sister - disputed who shot first, police were believed Lum Snr acted in self defence.

The incident was described in court as an argument over a shared driveway but the summary of facts reveals the animosity stemmed from an incident the day before.

Lum Snr had been helping a friend move furniture into a Luanda Drive property.

The way he had parked meant the trailer restricted access to residents of the other five houses who used the shared driveway and when finding himself blocked out, an angered Roach demanded they move.

A brief altercation saw Roach brandish a sawn-off shotgun and Lum Snr and his friend quickly left.

The next day, Lum Snr returned with his sons and began banging on Roach's windows and garage.

He later told police he planned to "challenge Roach to a fight".

When it became clear he was not home, the defendant smashed the windows of a Ford Falcon ute in the driveway.

Moments later, Roach arrived with his sister Neilia and her 18-month-old and seeing the damage, confronted the brothers who were nearby.

When 20-year-old Ricky admitted he was responsible, Roach opened fire with the same weapon he had pulled the previous day.

Ricky was shot in the throat and hearing the gunfight, their dad grabbed a military-style, semi-automatic weapon stashed in his car and returned fire, the documents say.

Two of the four shots fired found their target and Roach died at the scene in front of his sister and niece.

The Lums piled into their car and rushed Ricky to Waitakere Hospital. While Lum Snr carried his son inside, Trae drove away with the firearm wrapped in two T-shirts and hidden in the back of the vehicle.

Shortly afterwards, he was stopped by police in Massey who found the weapon and arrested the 18-year-old.

Police initially charged 41-year-old Lum Snr and his son with unlawful possession of a firearm.

In August, charges against the teen were dropped and though police added a count of intentional damage against his father, they confirmed there would be no murder or manslaughter charge forthcoming.

When questioned, Lum Snr said he had found the firearm in a stolen vehicle in Sandringham a month prior to the incident.

Trae confirmed his brother had since recovered from gunshot wound.

Lum Snr will be sentenced at Waitakere District Court next month where he faces a maximum prison term of seven years on the intentional damage offence.