9.30am
Police were today hunting for a man seen leaving the scene of a shooting in Tolaga Bay, northeast of Gisborne, yesterday in which a 29-year-old man was killed.
The victim was hit by a shotgun blast about 7pm near a Tolaga Bay hotel. His name has not been released.
Police were searching
for a man last seen driving north on State Highway 35 shortly after the shooting, Senior Sergeant Tony Gibson, of Gisborne police, said today.
It was believed the man was involved in the shooting, had a firearm and was dangerous, Mr Gibson said.
Armed offenders squad and police road checks last night failed to find the vehicle believed to have been used by the gunman, a blue and silver 1990 Nissan Terrano 4WD, registration APP887.
A Tolaga Bay Inn spokesman said last night the shooting was devastating but declined to comment further.
Mr Gibson would not comment on whether the shooting was gang-related.
The incident follows two other East Coast shootings in the past two months.
Nineteen-year-old freezing worker Joel Storey was injured in an apparently botched hit on another person during a tea-break at the town's Affco meat plant on the outskirts of Wairoa on April 8.
The shooting, during which another young man was also injured, was possibly gang-related, Gisborne police said at the time.
It may have been a response to the fatal February shooting of 42-year-old mob member Kevin Tuahine.
Police were returning to the Tolaga Bay scene today to continue investigations, Mr Gibson said.
- NZPA
