Man's body returned to marae for tangi

Pita Tekira.

The body of the man involved in a 26-hour armed stand-off in Wellington will be returned to Hawke's Bay today.

A representative of Omahu Marae said the body of Pita Tekira would be returned home this afternoon, and a tangi would be held at the marae on Friday morning.

The 29-year-old was found dead in a home in Porirua after a 26-hour armed stand-off with police.

Mr Tekira had been raised in Waipukarau by his mother and grandmother. His family said they did not wish to comment at this time.

Police had been searching for Mr Tekira since April 1 when he removed his electronic monitoring bracelet and absconded from his bail address in Hawke's Bay. He had been facing 11 charges including dishonesty, dangerous driving and violent offending.

The stand-off with police began just before 10am on Friday when three police staff, accompanied by a police dog, visited a property in Kokiri Cres, Porirua, seeking Mr Tekira who was wanted for arrest.

Police said Mr Tekira had brandished a firearm and shot and killed the police dog. The dog's body was immediately removed from the house by two officers, and the third was injured after jumping from a second storey window.

Police staff, including the Armed Offenders Squad, began searching for Mr Tekira who left the residential property and was reported to be armed.

A stand-off ensued when Mr Tekira was located at another house on the same street. Police negotiated with him and deployed a number of tactical options overnight in order to gain access to the house, including gas canisters. Police said there had been no shots fired by their staff.

In a press conference on Saturday, Wellington District Commander Sam Hoyle said police had entered the house about 11am that day, and using a remote camera could confirm Mr Tekira was alone in a room on the upper level of the house where a shotgun was present.

"This is not the outcome that we wanted," he said. "Our negotiators worked tirelessly throughout the night in an attempt to get a peaceful ending to this event. Unfortunately that didn't occur."