Armed police stand guard outside the Sofitel Hotel on Auckland's Viaduct yesterday morning. Photo / Jason Oxenham
Auckland Mayor Phil Goff saying worsening gang warfare is putting innocent people at risk and he warns the city cannot go down the track of "gangland America".
His comments follow a dramatic shooting at a 5-star waterfront hotel yesterday, which police say was linked to an escalating dispute between the Head Hunters and the Mongols gangs.
A gun was fired soon after 9am at the Sofitel hotel at the Viaduct, sparking a citywide response with armed officers and the Eagle helicopter.
Detective Inspector John Sutton said the incident - described by witnesses as "a moment of terror" - was linked to a shooting at the Head Hunters gang pad in Mt Wellington last weekend.
Goff told the Herald it was "intolerable that gangs are carrying out their feuds in public using firearms and risking public safety".
"It really is important that New Zealand not go down the track of gangland America and zero tolerance is now shown to gangs employing firearms against each other or anybody else."
While police were yet to make arrests, Goff said they were pouring massive resources into the investigation and officers believed they knew the culprits' identities.
Goff said he hoped those responsible were bought swiftly to justice and that subsequent convictions and sentences reflected the seriousness of the crimes.
"There has to be a clear message that Aucklanders, New Zealanders and police are not prepared to tolerate this kind of behaviour, of factions involved in criminal activities warring with each other."
The escalating violence was a stain on the city's reputation and undermined people's basic right to feel safe in their city.
"What we don't expect in downtown Auckland is to have squads of armed police sorting out gangs who are at war with each other over who owns the patch."
He acknowledged the arrival of so called "501" deportees from Australia was fuelling the turf war as gangs like the Mongols and Comancheros gained in numbers and strength.
"They're treating this like the wild west."
Goff also acknowledged the arrests of three men yesterday in connection with the fatal shooting of Favona grandmother Meliame Fisi'ihoi, who was gunned down in an apparent case of mistaken identity in January last year.
While the arrests were "a long time coming", Goff hoped they would bring some conciliation to Fisi'ihoi's family.
And he praised police for their "extraordinary efforts" in tackling the broader problem of gun violence and organised crime, including raids on houses and seizure of weapons, restraining criminals' assets under proceeds of crime legislation and a police campaign to crack down on firearms.
Finally, Goff called on members of the public who had knowledge of illegal firearms or criminal activities to share that information with police, who could not tackle the problem on their own.
An escalating dispute between the Head Hunters and the Mongols was behind the shooting at a 5-star waterfront hotel yesterday, police say.
A gun was fired soon after 9am at the Sofitel hotel at the Viaduct, sparking a citywide response with armed officers and the Eagle helicopter.
Detective Inspector John Sutton said the incident - described by witnesses as "a moment of terror" - was linked to a shooting at the Head Hunters gang pad in Mt Wellington last weekend.
The Herald understood about 30 rounds were fired at the gang pad in Marua Rd last Sunday.
Police and criminal sources told the Herald at the time that such a direct attack could spiral into further violence, depending on how the gang sought retribution.
Sutton also said yesterday's incident was also linked to an incident in Murrays Bay, on Auckland's North Shore, where ammunition and explosives were found at a property. Five men were arrested.
"While nobody was injured in this incident, what we saw at the Sofitel yesterday was extremely concerning. Members of the public were present and their safety was put at risk.
The rising tension is understood to be driven by the arrival of new gangs after some senior members were deported from Australia, and recruited aggressively to increase their numbers.
In particular, the Mongols - a notorious motorcycle group with origins in the United States - have ruffled feathers with rival gangs in Tauranga and Christchurch, marked by shootings and suspicious fires of businesses and cars.
"Police will not tolerate these crimes and we have a large team working around the clock to ensure we identify and arrest all of those involved," Sutton said.
A witness to the Sofitel shooting described "the moment of terror" when he heard gunshots.
Up to 20 officers carrying guns were seen entering the lobby, while customers and staff were bundled out to safety through a separate entrance.
The witness, who does not want to be identified, said he heard two gunshots.
"The sound reverberated through the hotel. There were two shots. A second apart. Bang. Bang," the man said last night.
A colleague then stood up and shouted "shooter!".
"It was actually the authenticity of the reaction on my colleague that made it very scary.
"When someone calls 'shooter', that's almost like an Americanism that we are not used to. It gave us a sense of what it might be like in the US. It was just at that moment."
He was with a group of people and they turned the lights off in the area they were in.
"We reacted as if we were threatened. We reacted as if we were in danger, and we felt we were.
"That time of when we didn't know what was going on probably only lasted a minute, and then everything subsided, because the shooter had gone, but the police didn't treat it as if they had gone, so they came in to secure the hotel."
The hotel witness praised the police response, adding there was still a "heavy police presence'' at the scene in the early afternoon.
He also said staff at the hotel had been "fantastic'' throughout the ordeal.
"I felt sorry for the staff. It was a terrible shock for them, but their reaction was just outstanding, and professional, and continued to be before, during and after the event. They followed up with everyone to make sure we were all okay. They apologised, not that they had anything to apologise for."
Shortly after the CBD incident, police also attended a property in Ōrākei, with the police Eagle helicopter involved.
"Two people at that address are also assisting police with our inquiries," a police spokesperson said.
"Police are working hard to establish what exactly has taken place."
Gang expert Jarrod Gilbert told the Herald the escalation of very serious public violence was hugely concerning.
"This isn't a gang issue, it's a certain chapter of certain groups and those chapters need to be targeted and policed incredibly hard."
Blanket policing against those specific groups, rather than entire gangs, was needed so that they know any inappropriate or unacceptable behaviour will be prosecuted to the full extent, from roading incidents to the more serious crimes, he said.
Targeting gangs as a whole would be a waste of resources, he said.
"Police should be reinvestigating any old complaints against those groups that may not have been followed up, every single time they are on the roads they are pulled up and that any, even minor incidents that might previously be overlooked, are prosecuted."
The gang scene in New Zealand was fundamentally changing, with new participants coming on board and new gangs setting up an established territory, which has been creating conflict, Gilbert said.
"We have seen this in the past when there's been growth in the scene and violence is an inevitable consequence of that.
Meanwhile, police have set up a specialist Firearms Investigations Team in Auckland to focus on identifying illegal supply chains of weapons.
Detective Superintendent Greg Williams said the ring-fenced squad was modelled on the specialist teams in some Australian police states.
"We've been thinking about this for some time, and it was timely to start a firearms team as part of Operation Tauwhiro," said Williams, who heads the National Organised Crime Group.
"The focus will be on people who are diverting guns, converting guns and stealing guns for organised criminals."
The Herald reported in December 2020 that worsening gun violence linked to gang turf wars, illicit drugs and the insidious cancer of organised crime had left more than 350 people with firearms injuries across Auckland in five years.
Auckland Mayor Phil Goff had serious concerns about the growing use of firearms and had written to the Police Minister.
"There is no single solution, but every available lever needs to be pulled to stop worsening gang violence and misuse of firearms in criminal and gang activity."
The Sofitel shooting came on the same day as three men made their first appearance at the Manukau District Court, jointly charged with the murder of Meliame Fisi'ihoi.
The 57-year-old grandmother was shot dead in the early hours of January 15 last year through the window of her front door after waking up to answer it.
The King Country bush is cold and wet, making conditions very harsh.