Police have arrested four gang-connected men in relation to an aggravated robbery in Raumanga, Whangārei, this afternoon, where one person was shot.
A woman was watching television inside her home when she heard multiple gunshots outside.
She later discovered that the window on her Ashley Ave house had been damaged by what was believed to be shell casings from a shotgun.
Detective Inspector Al Symonds, of the Northland Criminal Investigation Branch, said the four men - whom he said had gang connections - went to a house on the street “intending to deprive the occupant of a substantial cannabis cultivation”.
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Advertise with NZME.“Whilst forcing entry to the house the occupier has shot one of the intruders,” Symonds said.
“This person received a minor injury and was treated at the scene,” he said.
“We have no tolerance for this sort of behaviour and we hope these quick arrests bring some reassurance to our wider community.”
The Advocate understands that one of the occupiers’s ex-partners had allegedly alerted the police yesterday afternoon about multiple people believed to be Tribesmen gang members had made their way into the occupier’s house with firearms.
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Advertise with NZME.The ex-partner, who was calling from a different location was reportedly being informed by the occupier who at one point allegedly screamed “Get Out” to the intruders. Later shots were fired and the perpetrators fled northbound from the address in a car.
The four men, aged between 27 and 45, will appear in the Whangārei District Court tomorrow on aggravated robbery charges.
Another man, a 38-year-old, is also facing firearms and drugs charges, Symonds said.
A neighbour told the Advocate she heard three gunshots and saw a silver car with three people fleeing the scene.
Six vehicles with about a dozen officers responded with some armed.
