Mt Roskill attack: Police investigate Molotov cocktails thrown at Auckland home

The house was attacked at midnight, smashing a window. Photo / Sylvie Whinray

An Auckland family has been left shaken after three Molotov cocktails were thrown at their home at midnight, smashing a window where a teen was sleeping.

Detective Senior Sergeant Rebecca Kirk said police were called to a property on Glass Rd, Mt Roskill about 12.35am following a report of flammable projectiles being thrown at the house.

“A small fire was quickly extinguished, and no one was injured.”

Enquiries are under way to identify and locate the persons responsible, Kirk said.

Damage to a house in Mt Roskill that was hit by three Molotov cocktails. Photo / Sylvie Whinray

Margie, 63, has no idea why her house was targeted, but two of the Molotov cocktails landed in her garden and one smashed a window.

“[The smashed window] was bad enough because my granddaughter was sleeping in that room.

“We were quite thankful that it didn’t actually go through [the window] because her bed is right there.”

A Molotov cocktail is a hand-thrown flammable device, usually made from a bottle.

Her 16-year-old granddaughter was really frightened by the incident, she said.

“It wasn’t very nice, hearing the thud and coming out to find that.

The home owner's granddaughter was asleep in the room where one of the objects smashed a window. Photo / Sylvie Whinray

“When I came out, the two that landed over there, they were burning, but my honey and my son had come out, and they were putting it out so it didn’t have a chance to really explode or anything.”

She said no one came onto the property, so the devices would have been thrown over the tall fence around the home.

Police took the devices away to examine them for fingerprints, she said.

“That’s the whole thing, we don’t know if they’ve got the wrong address and were meaning [to be] somewhere else, or what’s the story.

“It was quite nerve-wracking ... We’re just hoping that they’ve got the wrong end of our street.”

Police ask anyone with information that may assist their inquiries to contact them via 105, over the phone or online.

Information can also be provided anonymously by calling Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111, referencing job number P064063123

Jaime Lyth is a multimedia journalist for the New Zealand Herald, focusing on crime and breaking news. Lyth began working under the NZ Herald masthead in 2021 as a reporter for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei.