Residents reported hearing multiple gunshots and a number of vehicles have been damaged. Local shops closed their doors and people peeped out to the street watching what was happening. Facebook / Hemapo Kereama
Multiple arrests have been made after shots were fired at a Mongrel Mob funeral procession in Whakatane.
The body of Mongrel Mob member Tahu Kingi was being transported in a motorcade of about 100 vehicles carrying other Kawerau-based members of the gang from the town to the Whakatane Crematorium thisafternoon.
Whakatane's resident gang, Black Power, was allegedly trying to prevent the Mongrel Mob from entering. The drama follows a road-rage incident on Friday when Kingi's coffin ended up on the road.
"We're gonna save the town from them," one of the Black Power members said at the Landing Road Bridge entrance to the town, where members of his gang and Crips members had congregated to block the road.
They then abandoned their position and moved to the bottom of the Gorge Rd roundabout, the main route to the crematorium.
The confrontation was apparently sparked by an altercation outside a funeral home in Whakatane on Friday, where Kingi's body was before it was taken back to Kawerau for the tangi.
Mongrel Mob members allegedly attacked and ran over a Black Power member who passed by.
A man, who did not want his identity revealed, said this afternoon senior Black Power members had told him the younger gang member's patch was stolen in the incident.
Police said it looks like the gangs are now leaving the cemetery. Police will continue to monitor the "fluid situation" and are hoping the procession back to Kawerau goes smoothly.
There were about 10 armed offender squad members and more than 20 police officers at the roundabout.
Other police officers were stationed in other strategic locations.
Traffic was stopped to give priority to the funeral cortège.
Police drafted out cars containing members of the public not associated with the funeral further up the road to speed up the cortège's progress through the roundabout at the bottom of Gorge Rd where the main confrontation took place.
There were "hundreds of spectators" at the roundabout to watch the action, Akuhata said.
