North Shore, Auckland police incidents: Carjacking, armed police and locked down schools

It was a morning of mayhem across two of Auckland's wealthiest suburbs yesterday amid dangerous incidents that included a carjacking, a dramatic stolen car chase ended by the heroic actions of a police officer, and thousands of schoolchildren being locked in their classrooms after reports of a person with a gun.

The incidents on the city's North Shore - a multiple-stolen-car chase that included an elderly woman being yanked from her car before a shirtless, bloodied man was cornered, tasered and handcuffed on the deck of a Devonport home, and a later hunt by police for a person suspected of being armed that saw five schools locked down and a Belmont home surrounded - weren't related, police said.

But both left bystanders and residents shaken as the drama played out across neighbouring suburbs on a gloomy winter's day.

As of 6pm the person being sought in the second incident, sparked by reports to police at 10.47am of an armed person in Belmont, and prompting Takapuna Grammar, Northcote and Belmont intermediates and Belmont and Bayswater schools to lock down, hadn't been found.

But a man was in police custody after being cornered by police and bystanders when an earlier police chase came to an end in Devonport's Domain St.

Two of several cars damaged during a dramatic police chase in Devonport. Photo / Lara Franks

The incident began when a man strode out of Church St's Holy Trinity Church, slammed the doors, drove off in a blue Toyota Corolla parked on the grass and crashed a few hundred metres away, witness Brandon Boyle said.

"Then he hijacked an old lady's Nissan Leaf - he threw her out of the car," said Boyle, who estimated the woman was aged between 60 and 70.

"He just took her out of the car. She wasn't on the ground but she was stumbling."

Boyle and another person ran after the car, alerting police that the man - described by another witness as aged in his late 20s and "pretty dishevelled" - had changed cars.

"We kept chasing and chasing until he crashed into about six cars on the left side of the main road. Then as he was crashing into that he swerved right into a fence."

He tried to yank open the front door, but a policeman managed to jump into the passenger seat, the 25-year-old said.

Another crashed car in Auckland's Devonport following the police chase. Photo / Supplied

The dramatic scene was like "watching an action movie", said another witness, who also counted at least seven police cars at the scene.

"It was totally fearless. I don't know how [the policeman] managed to do it, but he got into the car and shut the door. So he was then riding shotgun with this crazy guy.

"The guy drives into a wall, smashing a car, reverses, smashes into this other car and was driving crazily down the road … swerving like he's trying to smash the car on the cop's side."

The man eventually came to a stop when he crashed into another car, which fellow witness Boyle believed was because the policeman had yanked the steering wheel.

Running onto a neighbouring property, the man kicked open a door and ran into the house as Boyle, another bystander and police officers chased him around the back of the house, before he crossed the street to another home and was cornered on a deck.

There, clad only in grey sweatpants and with a bloody chin and hands, he was tasered, Boyle said.

"He went down straight away. One cop tasered him then two others came after and tasered him as well."

Despite the drama, Boyle was unfazed.

"I'm from South Africa so we deal with this sort of stuff on the daily - it's nothing new to me."

But the other witness, out for a birthday walk with his greyhound Charlie, was so stunned by what he'd seen he approached the young policeman he'd earlier watched jump into a car not only moving, but being driven erratically, including on footpaths and grass areas.

"He did something pretty heroic to stop this guy hurting somebody. I told him he was awesome and deserved a medal. He was all shy, but then his mate was like, 'Yeah, he's my hero'."

One person was in custody after "an incident involving a stolen vehicle in Devonport" yesterday morning, but there were no reports of injuries, police said.

"Inquiries are ongoing to understand the wider circumstances of what has occurred."

Anyone with information should call police on 105, Crime Stoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111, and quote the file number P051152119.

Armed police surrounded a Belmont home for at least 90 minutes. Photo / Sylvie Whinray

Meanwhile, school students and residents were forced to stay indoors after police received reports of a person with a gun in the Belmont area.

Later, officers from at least eight police cars, including a dog squad, spent more than 90 minutes surrounding a house in Belmont's cordoned-off Bardia St.

Armed officers could be seen crouching behind vehicles for cover, pointing their weapons at the house and using a megaphone to tell those inside the property the house was surrounded by armed police and order them to "come to the front door with nothing in your hands".

"Hurry up".

No one emerged, but a woman later left a nearby property in extreme distress, saying she'd been hiding on the ground for two hours.

Another neighbour told the Herald he came out of the shower to discover armed police all over his street.

"I was like 'what the hell is going on?'", Daniel Kim said.

Police told the 18-year-old to stay inside.

He was friendly with his neighbours but didn't know their names, Kim said.

Armed police advance on a house in Bardia St, after reports of a person with a gun in the Auckland suburb of Belmont. Photo / Sylvie Whinray

Police eventually searched the house and left the area without making any arrests.

Inquiries were ongoing, they said in a statement.

"There is no immediate threat to the public in regards to this incident."

Anyone with information was encouraged to call police on 105 and quote job number P051153522.

The nearby schools in the area were locked down "for a short period of time" as a precaution, police said.

One Takapuna Grammar student texted their parent to say they'd been told to get under their desks during the lockdown.

Belmont Primary locked down after the Ministry of Education contacted them about 11am, principal Bruce Cunningham said.

The students practised drills for earthquakes, fire and lockdowns so they knew what to
do - "they hide under the table or a bench out of sight and lock all the doors internally".

Students and staff were "fantastic", he said.

"They took it seriously, we said this is not a drill. There was no panic."