Armed police are in the Bay of Plenty settlement of Thornton. Photo / Katee Shanks
Armed police are in the Bay of Plenty settlement of Thornton. Photo / Katee Shanks
Parents picking up their children from school in the tiny Bay of Plenty town of Thornton were told they were under lockdown in the library.
The Armed Offenders Squad is assisting Bay of Plenty police following reports of a man with a firearm in Thornton near Whakatāne.
A Rotorua DailyPost reporter at the cordon at the intersection of Thornton Rd and West Bank Rd saw armed police walking a handcuffed shirtless man to a police truck.
Thornton School was temporarily put in lockdown but the children have since been able to leave, a police spokesman said.
Local parent of a child at Thornton School Kelly McGuire, said when she went to pick up her daughter from school the children were all in lockdown in the library.
There were roadblocks around the entrance of the school and there was an announcement that only children who had parents that had arrived were allowed to go, but everyone else had to stay in the building.
McGuire said they were clearly turning parents away as there were not many there.