St Johns homicide: Police formally identify victim as Kyle Whorrall, providing support for family

• Police have formally identified the victim of an attack in Auckland’s St Johns.
• He was an American PhD student who was studying entomology.
• Police are seeking two people in relation to the deadly attack, and are seeking information and dashcam footage from the public.

Police have formally named the man who died in the Auckland suburb of St Johns on Saturday night.

He was Kyle Austin Whorrall, a 33-year-old US national.

Police have said two occupants of the erratically driven vehicle attacked him while he was sitting alone at a bus stop on St Johns Rd on Saturday night.

Whorrall was struck with a “long” weapon at around 10pm, suffering multiple head injuries, and later died in hospital.

Police said officers are investigating Whorrall’s death and working to identify those involved.

“This is a tragedy for Kyle’s family, and their lives have been forever altered,” Auckland City CIB Detective Inspector Glenn Baldwin said today.

“We are in ongoing contact with the family, who are based in the United States, providing updates on the investigation as this develops.

“Police are ensuring there is support in place for them.”

University of Auckland student Kyle Whorrall was attacked at a bus stop and died later in hospital.

Police say they do not know why Whorrall was at the bus stop, and that he may have been waiting for a bus or sheltering from stormy weather.

Whorrall was based at Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research, which has an office in St Johns about 3km from where he was attacked. He had nearly completed his PhD.

Police said they had pieced together “snippets” of the incident from witness accounts and video footage from a passing bus and shopping centre.

Whorrall, who lived nearby, had bought groceries at a Woolworths supermarket on Gerard Way about 9.40pm on Saturday, which was part of his usual routine.

He then walked about 400m up St Johns Rd to the bus stop, which took about five or six minutes.

About 9.50pm, a white Toyota ute was cut off by a black SUV that was performing a U-turn. Footage from a passing bus captured an image of Whorrall sitting at the bus stop and the two vehicles.

About 10pm, the SUV parked at the bus stop, facing the wrong direction. Two occupants got out of the car and attacked Whorrall for about 30 seconds before speeding in their car in an easterly direction towards College Rd.

The occupants of the white ute were “critical” witnesses and police were appealing for them to come forward, while emphasising they were not suspects in the investigation. They could be able to confirm how many people were in the black vehicle, or might have captured the car’s number plate.

While footage had been captured of the black SUV, it was not clear enough to identify a number plate. The weapon used by the attackers had not been found.

The hunt for the attackers is now a major police exercise, with detectives called back from holiday to assist.

Herald graphic on US student Kyle Whorrall's death.

The St Johns Rd attack had echoes of another incident last year. In August, a well-known entomologist, Stephen Thorpe, was killed in an alleged assault in Blockhouse Bay while on his daily search for specimens.

A 26-year-old man has been charged with murder in that case. Thorpe had also worked on and off for Landcare Research.

Landcare declined to comment while police investigations were under way.

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