AOS called to air rifle incident in gardens

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

ARMED police were called out on Boxing Day after reports a man was seen firing what appeared to be an air rifle in the Botanical Gardens. When police arrived, he had disappeared.

Police want to hear from people who were in the area at about midday yesterday.

“A man was seen with what appeared to be an air rifle,” a police spokesman said.

“He was breaking it open, reloading it and firing it into the fish pond at the western end of the gardens.

“The person with the air rifle was not located. There were no reported injuries or damage.

“There were a lot of people in the gardens at the time, and we would like to speak to anyone else who saw this man and what he was doing.”