Shouting heard before man shot in driveway

Police resources were stretched in Christchurch yesterday as a large team, including armed offenders staff, began work on the city's fifth homicide inquiry in two months.

Last night the name of the victim, a man who was shot dead, was still not available. He was found in the driveway of a suburban house on Stanmore Rd when police were called there after 5am yesterday.

Neighbours had heard loud shouting and gunshots.

The death is the fifth in Christchurch in eight weeks. Three of the cases are progressing through the courts but police are yet to make an arrest in the killing of former Auckland woman Susie Sutherland.

The prostitute's naked body was found in an empty city section almost three weeks ago.

Yesterday's death sparked at least two armed offender callouts in the city during the day as police chased people potentially involved.

A woman and child were escorted from one house about 5km from the murder scene after it was circled by armed police.

Detective Senior Sergeant Dave Long later said they were "of interest to the inquiry" and that "a number of people are assisting the inquiry with establishing the background of the victim".

A woman understood to live at that house is already known to Canterbury police.

Kylie Southon was jailed for 18 months in 1989 after throwing a bomb, made up of two sticks of gelignite and a detonator, on to the roof of an Ashburton house while a man and his family were asleep inside.

The detonator exploded but the gelignite did not.

The man was the key witness in a case against Southon's boyfriend, a notorious Ashburton man called Robert "Inch" Roulston who had just been released after serving time for murder.

After yesterday's armed offenders callout at the home Southon is believed to live in, armed police stormed a house in New Brighton. Neighbours were interviewed but police did not take anyone from the house in to help with their inquiries.

The cordons remained in place at Stanmore Rd last night although the man's body was expected to have been removed after dark.

Canterbury District Commander Superintendent Sandra Manderson said her staff were coping well, despite being stretched by the number of murder inquiries.

Detective from Timaru had already been called in to help with the Susie Sutherland investigation but that would not be the case this time, she said.

"At this stage we are not bringing in staff from outside the area or elsewhere in the district. However, it is a possibility."

A post mortem examination will be carried out on the dead man today.