Police want to speak to anyone who saw a group of masked men pretend to shoot a father in front of his young son earlier this year.
The man and his young child were driving down Lord Cobham Drive in Whakatane on January the 17th when they were cut off by a silver car and forced to stop.
Three men wearing bandannas got out of the silver car and approached the pair, while another remained in the car.
Detective Sergeant Darren Thomas says the offenders accused the man of being a Mongrel Mob member and put a sawn-off shotgun to his neck and cocked the trigger.
He says the man told his upset child to close his eyes, as he thought he was going to be shot in the head and didn't want his child to see it.