Police outside a home on Beatrix St where a woman surprised an intruder who had loaded up a car with her belongings. Photo / Hayden Woodward
Police outside a home on Beatrix St where a woman surprised an intruder who had loaded up a car with her belongings. Photo / Hayden Woodward
Armed police have swarmed a house in West Auckland after a woman disturbed an intruder who she believes was armed with a pistol.
About a dozen police vehicles have descended on Beatrix St in Avondale this afternoon.
A large group of police are at the scene, some of them armed.
Helen Wahitapu said she arrived home around 1.05pm to find a car parked in her driveway loaded up with belongings from her house.
She had initially assumed it was a visitor, and called out a greeting before noticing belongings - including her laptop and all her daughter's clothes - in the silver Toyota Starlet.
It's believed the armed man is being hunted by police. Photo / Google
She then saw a hooded figure in the window who appeared to be holding a gun. She wasn't sure if the person had seen her, Wahitapu said.
She backed away and rang police. She had parked her van behind the intruder's car to block them in, but when police arrived the person was no longer in the house. She presumed they had escaped through the back door.
The car has been towed and was being forensically examined, Wahitapu said. Police had told her it was a stolen vehicle.
When she went inside it was clear the house had been ransacked, with a back window smashed and the door open.
Wahitapu - a single mum of five - said the state house had been robbed numerous times since she had lived there. She and her kids would be staying at her mum's house tonight and she had no plans to go back.
"I'd rather we all slept in a car to be honest."
Police cars lined Beatrix St in Avondale this afternoon after a reported of an armed intruder at a single mum's state house. Photo / Hayden Woodward
Her mum, Tangiwai Tuki, said her daughter had called to say there was a man in the house pointing a pistol at her.
"They haven't got him. He got away. She's alright. She was panicking, but she's all good. Police are supporting her."
A photographer at the scene counted 13 police cars and said many officers were still at the scene, some armed with Glock pistols and Bushmaster rifles.
Police said they responded to a report received shortly after 1pm from a member of the public claiming there was an intruder with a weapon in an address in Avondale.
In a statement, police said armed officers attended as a precaution and cordons were put in place around Beatrix St.
"Police have entered an address, however no persons were located.
