Police investigating the Work and Income murders had possession of the alleged shooter's gun for two days before telling the public they had located it.

A security review of Work and Income offices is being carried out following the double shooting at an Ashburton office on Monday.

As the small town of Ashburton comes to grips with yesterday's horror shooting, locals are turning their attention to planning memorials to honour the slain.

Accused limps into court as police refuse to say if the weapon used in the shootings had been recovered, while another office is locked down after a threat.

Paula Bennett says "there's lots of tears" for shooting victims as she reveals accused gunman had rejected further help from Work and Income.

Farmer Dan White knew a gunman was on the loose when he went to move a mob of sheep. He saw a man in a paddock 20m away.

The suspect at the centre of yesterday's triple shooting was a sick, homeless man who had returned to Ashburton to die.

Ashburton residents can sleep easy tonight after a suspected gunman who allegedly shot dead two Work and Income workers and injured another was take into police custody.

A witness to today's shooting tragedy in Ashburton said he saw a staff member from Work and Income run after the shooter yelling "You bastard, you've blown her to bits".

Suspect in shooting had said he wanted Winston Peters to investigate town's treatment of him.

Five fire appliances are battling a large blaze at an animal feed store in an industrial park in west Ashburton this morning.

A post-mortem will be carried out this morning on a man's body found in Ashburton.

'She's a brave wee girl', say police of an eight-year-old who was grabbed from her driveway and put in a car before she managed to escape.

Promising up and coming jockey Ashley Frye has been rushed to hospital following a fall during a race at the Ashburton Racecourse this afternoon.

A hearing scheduled for the teenager who killed young Ashburton mother Sina Solomona has been postponed.

Canterbury firefighters didn't get much sleep last night with six rural fire around Ashburton, four of which may be linked and are being treated as suspicious.

Firefighters are battling a large blaze at the Canterbury meatworks in Ashburton.

A fire in Ashburton gutted a local industrial building early this morning.

A train is believed to have ignited a large blaze that destroyed a vast crop and threatened to spread into nearby areas of Chertsey in Ashburton yesterday, firefighters say.

Verbal trespass notices have been served on ringleaders of a brawl between more than 30 people outside McDonald's in Ashburton on Sunday morning.

Ministry for Primary Industries officials have approved an incursion programme in mid-Canterbury following a spillage of one of Europe's most invasive arable weeds - black grass - found in a consignment of imported fescue seed.

The Methven resident was on his way home from Ashburton when he ploughed into three cows at about 7pm on Saturday.

An Ashburton university student suffered bruising after a heroic tussle with an intruder in her Wellington flat.

The truck driver who drove into the path of an oncoming train in May has claimed sun strike was the cause of the smash.

More than a hundred food handlers in Ashburton have been vaccinated against hepatitis A, as the virus continues to spread through the township.

Three weeks ago Col Sheehan was enjoying a few holes at the Tinwald Golf Course before his pet very likely saved his life.