Napier shooting: Evacuees put up in hotels and motels

Evacuees from today's armed siege on Napier Hill were tonight put up in local hotels and motels.

A Napier City Council Civil Defence spokeswoman said that as at 9.45pm, 126 people had registered at the Civil Defence welfare centre set up at Napier Intermediate School after Napier Hill was locked down by police.

Seventy-seven people have been put up in motels and hotels, while others had merely registered and gone to stay with friends and family in other areas of Napier.

Police closed off the area this morning after Senior Constable Len Snee was fatally shot and two other officers and a neighbour suffered gunshot wounds.

Jan Molenaar, a 51-year-old former territorial army member, tonight remained holed up in his house with a high powered rifle.

- NZPA