South Auckland shootings: Michael Crawford pleads guilty to four drive-by incidents in Ōtara

24 November, 2021. Armed police officers on the streets of Ōtara after five shooting incidents in two days. Video / Brett Phibbs

A South Auckland man has pleaded guilty to participating in four drive-by shootings in just five days.

Michael Crawford, 26, appeared before Justice Sally Fitzgerald today in the High Court at Auckland as he admitted to targeting houses on one Ōtara street on November 16, 2020, then targeting three other streets on the 20th of that month.

No one was injured in the shootings, but the charges noted that Crawford knew or ought to have known his actions would put lives in danger.

He also pleaded guilty to being in possession of 71 shotgun cartridges, an "AK-47-like" rifle and material for explosives, as well as to entering a building with a firearm to commit assault and to participating in an organised criminal group.

A series of shootings heightened tensions in Ōtara, South Auckland, in November 2020. Photo / Dean Purcell

The cluster of shootings left Ōtara residents on edge, and prompted Superintendent Jill Rogers, the Counties Manukau District Commander, to deploy extra officers to the area from across Auckland.

"We know the recent firearms incidents in South Auckland this weekend have caused concern and worry in the community," she said at the time, adding that officers would be temporarily armed as a precaution.

Crawford is set to be sentenced in July, at which point the Crown has agreed to drop four more charges.

Charges remain pending against multiple co-defendants.