Auckland shooting: Family of gunman Matu Reid’s domestic violence victim feared he’d never be rehabilitated

A relative of the woman who Auckland gunman Matu Reid assaulted in 2021 said they always told family members they feared he would never be rehabilitated.

“We gave him a home, all the love a family does, he was brought into the family as a family person and this is what happened.”

Reid died in a lift shaft after shooting several civilians and at least one police officer at a high-rise construction site in downtown Auckland on Thursday morning.

The relative said he “never” accepted responsibility for his actions, but was only violent on that one occasion.

“I was never afraid of him.”

Matu Reid died in a shoot-out with police after killing two construction workers in Auckland's CBD. Photo / Supplied

They said the victim and Reid were “not an item” and she was only helping him because he had nowhere to live.

“She was the type of person who would help anybody that was in trouble.

“She [the victim] was asked to take him in, through a friend of hers who knew him, and he’d just come out of jail.”

Through the years they said they had had homestays living in their home and they liked to give others a second chance.

However, while there, Reid violently assaulted a female family member and at the time of yesterday’s shooting was serving a sentence of five months’ home detention after he admitted charges of impeding breathing, injuring with intent to injure, wilful damage and male assaults female over the offending.

The family member said the victim “wouldn’t trust people again” after what he did to her.

“When I read about it yesterday, it was just so sad to know that, that he was let out. He should have never been let out as far as I’m concerned.”

They said after he attacked her family member they had no more dealings with him.

Another relative, the victim’s nephew, said Reid should have received jail time for trying to burn down their house and assaulting his aunt.

“We got really wary of him. Things he would say, how he would act. He would try to do something and he’d fail at it and he’d get angry really fast.”

He said people all deal with things in “different ways”, but he was so concerned about his behaviour that he started coming around to the home where Reid was staying every few days.

He said he was “not at all” surprised when he heard what Reid did yesterday.

The other relative agreed it was not surprising, and said not long before Reid attacked their family member he lost another job in the building industry.

The nephew said Reid would “always go on about gang stuff” with him.

The relative said he was “accepted” into the whole family and he was invited to Christmas parties and dinners.

“He was treated as one of the family.”

Matu Reid. Photo / Supplied

After he assaulted their relative they said, “well mate, you’ve had your second chance, you go on”.

The nephew said it would have been nice if this had never happened and now it’s created distress in their home.

“He had been to my parents’ house and a few other people’s houses, it is scary knowing that ...

“It’s sad he took two people with him, and he injured what, 10? That is truly sad ... I do believe he should have had a harsher sentence.”

Two male construction workers aged in their 40s have been confirmed as the pair killed in yesterday’s shooting.

Police say formally identifying the victims is today’s priority, with autopsies to be completed in the coming days.

The two men killed by the gunman were both aged in their 40s worked at the construction site alongside the shooter, who was also killed.

A police officer injured in the shootout was now in a stable condition in hospital, Superintendent Sunny Patel said today. A second officer was recovering at home.

“Three other people injured in the incident remain in hospital with non-life threatening injuries, and two people have been discharged from hospital,” Patel said.

“Police are not aware at this stage of any further people presenting at hospital with injuries.”

Patel described yesterday’s shootings as “incredibly traumatic for all involved”.

“We know New Zealanders have many questions about what occurred. I can assure you that a large investigation team is working to provide answers to those questions, particularly for the families of the two men who lost their lives and the other workers caught up in this tragedy.”