Hamilton shooting: Five shots fired by man using 'high-powered' weapon

A man shot dead by police during a violent confrontation in Hamilton used a "high-powered" firearm against officers.

Police were searching for the Hamilton man - believed to be in his 20s - after they had been told that he might use the weapon against himself or members of the public.

It's the third shooting involving police in less than a week. A man also fired at officers in Auckland this afternoon and a Hamilton officer was seriously injured after being shot in the shoulder with a shotgun late on Friday night.

He is now recovering at home.

Assistant Commissioner Richard Chambers told media this afternoon that officers yesterday visited an Odonoghue St, Hillcrest, property known to the man at 7.50pm.

He wasn't home.

Officers returned about 10pm when the man also arrived.

He got out of his car and then began firing at police, who shot back.

"On arrival he exited his car and used the firearm against my staff, firing a number of shots. We responded with fire and he was hit and, sadly, fatally injured."

Chambers said the man fired five shots at officers, but wouldn't confirm how many shots his staff fired as that was now part of an active investigation.

No officers were shot last night, but one fell over and banged his head.

He was today undergoing surgery in Waikato Hospital, Chambers said.

Chambers said officers who attended Odonoghue St had concerns for the man's safety, given the information they had.

"Obviously our concerns for him and in terms of the information that we had, that he maybe in possession of a firearm and possibly going to use that, which turned out to be the case.

"It's a very sad situation, obviously, that a life has been lost but we did our absolute best in the situation to take him into custody safely, without injury.

"But when somebody opens fire on my staff, we need to deal with those as they present to us and sadly as a result of what occurred last night he lost life.

"My staff did the best they could to look after him and save him, but sadly he passed away."

This afternoon forensic staff were combing the part of the cordoned-off street where the shooting happened.

A patrol car parked in a block of flats overnight to allow the examination to take place.

A blue tarpaulin had been set up on the driveway of a house diagonally across the road.

A source close to the investigation confirmed that the shooting was not gang-related, and the man was on a "drug-driven frenzy".

Neighbours in the usually nice, regular suburb of Hillcrest recalled hearing what sounded like fireworks - but would later discover were gunshots.

A resident on Aurora Tce, which intersects with Odonoghue St, said he was woken by what seemed a flurry of shots.

"I thought it was fireworks. All I heard was, maybe, nine rapid shots. that's what it seemed like because I was half asleep."

The man said he didn't hear the Eagle helicopter, only the shots, which he said seemed to happen in two lots; about five or six first then the remainder a couple of seconds later.

Brennan Pl resident Mark Schroder said he heard about 10 shots.

He was watching television at the time so he got up and went out his back door, which looks out to Odonoghue St, and then heard shouting.

He couldn't hear what was being said.

"I heard the shots. I went to see if it was fireworks or shots."

Hinewai Rau lived just a few doors from where the shooting happened.

She told the Herald she heard the gun shots so clearly it was like they were coming from over her back fence, and likened it to something out of "the action movies".

"My friend and I were just about to go to sleep and just heard what sounded like gunshots.

"There was about 10 gunshots and we reported it to the police.

Rau said the first few shots sounded slower, like they were coming from a revolver, before the rest of the shots sounded like a machine gun "in the action movies".

"It was like a revolver, like three of them [shots], then it just turned into a machine gun but it was really, really real."

A witness told the Herald three police in white overalls were early this morning walking around what appeared to be a vehicle covered by a tarpaulin.