Glen Eden, West Auckland hit and run: Man arrested and charged with murder after fatal Glenmall incident

A man has been arrested and charged with murder following an incident in West Auckland’s Glen Eden.

The 27-year-old man was taken into custody after a search warrant was executed at an address in New Lynn, police said on Wednesday night.

A police spokesperson said residents could expect an increased police presence in the area while an examination took place.

The man is due to appear before Waitakere District Court on Thursday.

Earlier on Wednesday, the area surrounding Glenmall in Glen Eden was cordoned off as armed police, ambulance and fire trucks responded to the incident where a man was hit by a car.

Resident Marc Rainbow said he rushed to the victim after being told about what had happened and saw a person lying on the ground.

“It’s all a bit surreal,” he said.

Rainbow spent “about four or five” minutes performing CPR and chest compressions.

Nurses hurried from the nearby Westview Medical Centre to come to the victim’s aid, Rainbow said.

Police have cordoned off the Glenmall shopping street in Glen Eden, west Auckland after an altercation in a carpark. Photo / Supplied

“It felt as if I was doing the chest compressions forever. I had to get the nurses to come in and take over a couple of times,” Rainbow said.

He continued his heroic response until a doctor arrived.

Rainbow told the Herald graphic details of what he saw as he realised his efforts had been in vain.

“I was in a bit of shock when the doctor ... [told me to] stop.”

A witness described the terrifying moment a driver pulled out a handgun and held it out a car window while fleeing the scene.

Kat McCormick was pulling out of a car park with her daughter when she saw a man in a black Holden pull a hand-brake turn near the Glenmall intersection.

“We knew he was gone,” she said. “He flew into his windshield ... It killed him.”

She then recorded the man’s licence plate and followed his car when he did not stop.

Police erected a tent above a vehicle after a man died following an altercation in Glen Eden. Photo / NZ Herald

The driver then waved a handgun out the window, and sped away.

“He pulled it out the side of his door.”

The driver of the Holden was described as a young man in his early 20s.

He had a woman passenger with reddish copper hair, she said.

About half an hour after the incident, the police Eagle helicopter could be seen hovering over Glendene and Henderson further west.

Armed police responding to a serious incident in a Glen Eden car park where a man died. Photo / Michael Craig