A man was found dead in the driver's seat of a white-coloured mitsubishi vehicle parked on the side of William Jones Dr, near the entrance to Fishbone Park.
PHOTO Michael Cunningham
A man was found dead in the driver's seat of a white-coloured mitsubishi vehicle parked on the side of William Jones Dr, near the entrance to Fishbone Park.
PHOTO Michael Cunningham
A police hunt continues in Northland for a person seen running away from a vehicle carrying what witnesses believe was a firearm.
A large police team converged on the Whangarei suburb of Otangarei and launched a homicide investigation yesterdayafter the death of a 25-year-old man.
The man was found deadin the driver's seat of a white-coloured Mitsubishi vehicle parked on the side of William Jones Dr, near the entrance to Fishbone Park after reports of gunshots were made about 11pm on Tuesday.
Police originally released the dead man's age as 34.
Officers door-knocking in the neighbourhood spoke to witnesses who saw a person running away with what seemed to be a firearm.
"We have no information to suggest that there is any ongoing risk to members of the public, however identifying and locating the person or persons involved in this incident is our number one priority."
Forensic experts from ESR have travelled from Auckland and are undertaking a scene examination which was expected to be completed late yesterday.The body will then be removed from the scene and taken to Auckland where a post-mortem is expected to be carried out today.
Some houses on William Jones Drive were also under police guard. PHOTO Michael Cunningham
"We are still working to establish the circumstances surrounding this incident and the events leading up to it," Detective Inspector Kevin Burke said.
"A scene examination is under way and is expected to take some time. Once this is completed the body will be removed from the scene and a post-mortem carried out."
Formal identification of the deceased man was yet to take place, however police believe they know who he is.
A section of William Jones Dr remained under close police watch yesterday with officers armed with guns patrolling the cordons.
The car came under close inspection by a police forensics team before it was removed. A few properties along William Jones Dr also had police tape around them.
A homicide investigation was launched after a man was found dead in a car in Otangarei. PHOTO Michael Cunningham
There were plenty of people standing around watching the intense police activity.
One man told the Northern Advocate he had heard the gunshots but thought nothing of it.
"We thought it was just normal really and didn't pay too much attention," he said.
