KEY POINTS:
"When he pointed his rifle at me, I made a conscious decision to survive," said Richard Neville, the man who walked away from the shootout on the North-western Motorway.
"I knew if I stopped my truck it was going to end in tears. I just put my head
down and tried to run him over."
Neville was recovering at home in Glen Eden, West Auckland yesterday, his arm bandaged after being peppered with 17 bullet fragments during Friday's "nightmare" shootout.
In pain, and occasionally succumbing to tears as he recounted his brush with death, Neville said he had spent yesterday "celebrating life" with his partner Donna and sons Benjamin and Angus - and reflecting on the fatal lottery that had allowed him to survive and left another innocent young man dead in front of him.
"It's a coin toss," said the 40-year-old blacksmith. "I feel like I have lost one of my nine lives. But that other family has had such a big loss, such a young man. I feel so sad for them."
And despite having what he suspects are parts of a police bullet in his arm, he staunchly defended the actions of the police and Armed Offenders Squad.
"I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the police. I know that for a fact," he said.
Neville was driving his flatbed truck down the motorway when he ran straight into the shootout on Friday.
He barely had time to take in the chaotic scene around him when the gunman started running towards him with a sawn-off rifle pointed at his windscreen.
He made a snap decision to try to run down the attacker.
"My fear at the time was this guy has gone ballistic across all of Auckland and stolen a car at gunpoint. Now he's trying to steal my truck at gunpoint. It's solid steel, he would have himself a portable bunker, then he would be a real headache, he would be away free again."
Neville said he saw the gunman's facial expression change abruptly.
"I saw his mood change from being intentful and purposeful to wanting out, looking for a way out. He jumped on the truck and there was a whole lot of firing. There was a lot of ammo flying. It was the actions of the Armed Offenders Squad, mounting my truck, taking on the guy who hijacked my truck.
"They did a wonderful job. That man had to be stopped. He put no value on any other person, but he ran out of options."
Neville said a bullet came through the back of his truck and apparently shattered, drilling his arm and chest with fragments. He said he got out of the cab and, using the truck for cover, ran for his life.
He is worried about how the injury will affect his future - the fragments are close to bones and causing him pain. Working at his blacksmith business is out of the question for now. Neville and his family bought Lotto tickets yesterday to celebrate his lucky escape, but he admits the reality of the ordeal will take some time to sink in. "We chuckle and say, as men we are tough, but ... whatever," he said, his eyes filling with tears again.
