Canterbury’s district police commander has given an update after police officers shot a woman dead and critically injured another man last night.
Police were called to a residential address in Clyde Rd, Bryndwr about 11pm after receiving a report of a man armed with a knife, threatening to hurt himself and his partner.
Canterbury District Commander Superintendent Tony Hill spoke to media from the city’s central police station at 12.15pm.
A livestream of the press conference can be viewed at the top of this story.
Soon after officers arrived at the address last night, a woman ran from the house, followed by a man armed with a knife.
“Believing the woman to be at risk of imminent serious harm, police shot the man, critically injuring him,” Hill said earlier today.
“The woman subsequently picked up the knife and threatened the police.”
She ignored appeals from the officers to drop the knife, instead moving towards them, Hill said.
She was shot, and despite police rendering medical assistance immediately, she died soon after.
The injured man was transported to hospital.
Hill said this afternoon that the man was now in a stable condition and his injuries were not thought to be life-threatening.
He acknowledged the incident was extremely distressing.
The priority for police now was supporting the dead woman’s family, investigating what happened at the house, and looking after officers who attended, Hill said.
Hill said the man had a hunting knife when he charged out of the house, chasing the woman.
After he was shot, an officer went to the man’s assistance, the woman “advanced on police, brandishing the knife”. She was also shot.
“Drawing a firearm is the last thing a police officer wants to do,” he said.
“I want to offer our condolences and thoughts to the family of the two people who were shot,” he said.
“The tactical options that were used will form a part of the investigation.”
Police remain at the scene of the fatal shooting today and multiple investigations are under way.
Hill said it was inappropriate to comment further given the ongoing investigations. He said there was “the normal full array” of tactical options available to attending officers.
He said such incidents were dynamic and fast-moving.
Shots were fired from a rifle.
The same officer fired both shots at the man and woman. Hill would not comment on that officer.
“All the officers involved are obviously distressed. We’ve got good services wrapped around them,” Hill said.
“Our staff use firearms in the protection of themselves and others.”
He would not comment on the police’s knowledge of the couple, their domestic violence or criminal histories. Nor would not comment on where the man or woman were struck by bullets.
A senior officer from outside Canterbury has been brought in to conduct the critical incident investigation.
The initial call to police came from someone outside the address.
Hill confirmed the man and woman were the only people at the house. He said the person who called 111 knew the couple.
He would not comment on what firearms training the staff had, if they were Armed Offenders Squad members or how long they were at the house before shots were fired.
A good friend of the woman said she had been in a relationship with the man for about five years.
“They had their troubles,” Nathan Light told the Herald.
“They were off and on fighting, arguing with each other [and] sorting their lives out.”
Light said he met the couple at a local church and the man was intending to “get baptised in a couple of weeks”.
He said they were eager to beat their demons and had been “ditching all their old associates”.
He said they were “doing good”.
“They had a couple of slip-ups… it’s inevitable,” Light said.
“My partner went and seen them last night. I was gonna go and see them too, but I was too tired. She said that they seemed to be okay.”
He said “a couple of days prior”, the woman had called at midnight “begging us to come down and help”.
Light was at the house talking to the man until 2am.
Light’s partner told him last night the shot man was still in “his weird head space”.
“This morning I wake up, scroll Facebook… I f***ing just knew straight away when they said Clyde Rd… my gut was like, ‘Bro, that’s [his friends]’.
“And then I saw the photo and I was like, ‘That’s their f***ing house and that’s their fence… oh no’… so I ran from home.”
A source said police had been to the address “loads of times” for reports of family harm and other incidents.
The woman was well known to domestic violence support services and was deemed “a high-risk client”.
A critical incident investigation is underway, and it will also be referred to the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA), which is standard for any incident involving a police shooting.
“We have spoken to next of kin, and our thoughts are with the family of those involved at this incredibly difficult time,” Hill said earlier.
“This was a distressing incident for the attending officers, and the appropriate support is being provided to them.”
According to property records, the units, which are across the road from a playground, are owned by Kāinga Ora.