Two men arrested over Kaikohe shotgun incident held in custody

Armed police surround a house on Wihongi St, Kaikohe, after reports of a shot being fired on Wednesday morning. Photo / Peter de Graaf

Two men have been remanded in custody after appearing in court over a firearms incident in Kaikohe on Wednesday morning.

Armed police, dog handlers and members of the Armed Offenders Squad descended on Wihongi St from across Northland after reports of a firearm being discharged just after 10am.

The end of the street was closed to traffic and neighbours were ushered to safety across the road as police surrounded a house and used a loudhailer to urge its occupants to come out.

Two men were arrested and appeared in Kaikohe District Court on Thursday morning.

Mana West Hohepa Penney, who turns 22 on Saturday, and Franc Lewis Penney, 49, are jointly charged with recklessly discharging a shotgun on June 29.

Both men are also charged with unlawful possession of a single-barrel shotgun and unlawful possession of 17 shotgun cartridges.

Court documents give the address of both men as the property at the centre of Wednesday's firearms incident.

They were remanded in custody and are due back in court by audio-visual link on July 5, when they are expected to apply for bail.

The police response after a member of the public reported the alleged shooting was swift and overwhelming.

Afterwards, police said they had "extremely low tolerance for anti-social behaviour or violence in our communities".

They also urged anyone with information about illegal firearms to come forward.

Wihongi St has previously been the scene of shootings related to a feud between the Tribesmen and Killer Beez gangs, but police said Wednesday's incident was not directly related to gang tensions.

That was verified by a source with knowledge of Kaikohe's gang scene who said the men involved were not connected to either gang.