By SCOTT MacLEOD
The gunman who shot an Auckland tavern manager is suspected of at least three other armed holdups - including two linked to the so-called Clown Gang.
Glenfield Tavern manager Ronald Stinson was shot through the chest during a holdup at his pub on August 4. Detectives are worried
another holdup is looming.
Police yesterday warned the public to keep away from Dean James McDonald Shedden, 33, whom they suspect of robbing a North Shore bank on June 14.
Detective Senior Sergeant Kim Libby said yesterday: "We're worried he's going to do something - and someone might get hurt."
Mr Libby said police wanted to talk to Shedden about four robberies, but would name only the holdup on June 14, when a man with a stocking over his face and armed with a silver revolver robbed the Kiwibank in Wairau Park, Glenfield, of $4000.
However, the Herald understands from its own inquiries that one of the other robberies was the Glenfield Tavern shooting, in which a gunman opened fire after being grabbed by Mr Stinson and cleaner Norm Sutton.
Mr Sutton described the weapon as "a revolver like in a John Wayne movie".
The other two robberies were earlier linked to the so-called Clown Gang, named because of the masks the offenders wore.
One was on July 2, when a gunman wearing a "carnival" or "caricature-type" mask demanded PostShop cash from an Armourguard worker outside the Pt Chevalier shopping mall.
The worker refused, and jumped into his van. The robber followed and thrust his arm inside the vehicle, but the worker slammed the door shut and broke off part of the pistol.
The fragment has been kept as evidence.
The fourth robbery was on June 20, when a pistol-toting man held up the ASB Bank in Pt Chevalier.
Mr Stinson said yesterday that he would spend up to two months off work recovering from the gunshot wound. The bullet left a hole the size of a 10c piece where it entered his right breast and a 50c piece in his lower back, where it exited.
"I'm coming along reasonably well," he said.
Last week Shedden's 1989 Honda Integra was found dumped in the carpark of the Te Atatu Rugby League Club - but police did not find him.
Mr Libby said police needed help from the public to catch Shedden.
"We think he's still in Auckland, and we know he hangs around Te Atatu. But we can't find him."
Shedden has no fixed address, but is thought to be still in Greater Auckland.
* Anyone with information should phone the North Shore CIB on 488-6200.
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