Chaucer Road gunman Jan Molenaar died of a single shot to the head, believed to be self-inflicted, and had no other bullet wounds, police said at a press conference today.
The injury was determined in a post-mortem examination carried out in Wellington yesterday, Superintendent Rod Drew said.
Mr Drew heads Operation Stingray,
which extends from the murder of police Senior Constable Len Snee to the attempted murders of at least 21 other people, including wounded fellow officers Bruce Miller and Grant Diver and civilian Lenny Holmwood.
Most shots were fired in the moments after Mr Snee's slaying just after 9.30am on Thursday - some directly as Molenaar ran to an elevated position and blasted a .308 rifle at those trying to rescue Mr Miller and others in surrounding homes.
Details of Molenaar's death came in a memorandum from Coroner David Crear, of Wellington, consented to by Molenaar's family, according to the Coroners Act.
In part it read: "The cause of death has been established by the pathologist as a gunshot wound to the head. There is no other bullet wound or injury which has been caused by the Police or any other person or agency. All evidence presently available indicates that the fatal gunshot wound was self-inflicted."
Today, Mr Drew would not comment further, but the coroner's statement supported theories Molenaar died from a bullet from his own gun in his bedroom just before 1.30pm on Friday, although it was not until almost noon the next day before officers entered the room and confirmed he was deceased.
The lack of evidence of other wounds from police weapons contrasts previous suggestions that Molenaar may have been struck by either or both of two police shots through his door, after he fired at officers three hours after the first shooting happened during a police cannabis search.
Mr Drew said Molenaar wore some protective clothing and in his room was a piece of metal fashioned as if to be a shield to protect the front of his body.
There was no evidence Molenaar had a police radio.
His voice trembling, Mr Drew said investigators would be at today's funeral. Many had known Mr Snee well and had worked through the siege and investigation in "very difficult" circumstances.
