KEY POINTS:
A man will appear in the Kaikohe District Court today after a five-hour armed standoff with police that put a town in lockdown.
At the height of the drama, up to 50 police and armed offenders squad officers surrounded a house in Matauri Bay, 30km north of Kerikeri.
Roads were closed, children held in schools and residents and shopowners told to stay inside.
Police said a 54-year-old Morrinsville man, who was visiting relatives, became involved in a family dispute.
At one point it was feared he was holding three children, but police said last night that was not the case.
The man, who was in possession of an unlawful firearm, then left one house with adults and children and moved to another.
Police surrounded the area about 1.30pm.
Residents of the sealed-off area were ordered to stay indoors and others were asked to keep away from the area.
Matauri Bay Primary School teachers were told to keep their 40 children inside.
"They mostly all live on the street so they can't go home," board member Tukuwai Samuels said.
"A lot of the parents are here too because they can't get in. We set up activities and the kids are running around outside. All we can do is wait, stay cool, calm and collected."
Room one pupil Bayley Liu, said: "The doors were locked by the teachers and we had food brought to the school from the store."
"We were all quite happy. We were outside when they told us we could all go but we had not been allowed around the back of the school because the teacher wanted us in her vision," Bayley said.
Mere Apiata, a helper at Maori school Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Whangaroa, said they kept the 38 children inside as a precaution.
There were more people in the town than usual because of a tangi.
A police negotiator used a megaphone to try to coax the man out of the house but the armed offenders squad eventually entered the property and arrested him, about 6.15pm.
Resident Alison Lawless was in her vegetable garden opposite the marae when she heard a series of what sounded like shots.
"There were seven or eight sharp cracks but it didn't sound like a gun."
Police said later what she and other residents heard were police setting off distraction devices as they prepared to enter the house. Far North police area commander Inspector Chris Scahill said what had happened appeared to be a domestic or family dispute.
When police and a police dog searched an area outside a house they found a loaded semi-automatic pistol.
The man had been aggressive when taken into custody and suffered a dog bite.
