Arrests imminent in drive-by shooting

File Photo / Martin Sykes

Napier police investigating a random drive-by shooting, in which a man was hit with a slug gun pellet, say they are close to making arrests.

The 50-year-old man was shot in the stomach while socialising with friends outside the Thirsty Whale bar on West Quay in the suburb of Ahuriri, central Napier, about 2.30am Sunday.

Police believe the shot was fired from a silver Nissan Skyline GTS sedan that passed just metres away.

Police had spoken to two key witnesses today and would hopefully apprehend the offenders by midday tomorrow, Detective Sergeant Emmet Lynch told NZPA.

Police had information which was "leading us in a decent direction" towards picking up the offenders, he said.

Mr Lynch said the man was lucky to escape with only minor injuries, but had to seek treatment to have the slug pellet removed from his abdomen.

"It's quite bizarre. He didn't initially understand what had happened. It was only on later investigation that he found that this slug had been embedded [in him]."

The weapon was a fairly low-powered slug rifle but could easily have caused serious injury, Mr Lynch said.

"It may appear pretty innocent with not many consequences but we've all heard and seen the results of air rifles and what they can do," he said.

"If it had struck him in the neck near a vital artery...it could well have caused serious bleeding, and we don't quite know how that would have ended. So the reality is that a slug pellet can in fact kill - there's no doubt about that."

The victim was unlikely to be known to the offenders, who were probably youths.

"This guy's got no issues and there's been no dramas for him ... it's totally random, just a silly act that could have gone really seriously wrong."

Despite making progress in their inquiries police still wanted to speak to any witnesses to Sunday morning's incident.

- NZPA