Christchurch police shooting: More details revealed after woman shot dead, man critically injured
Police were called to a residential address in Clyde Rd, Bryndwr about 11pm after receiving a report of a man armed with a knife, threatening to hurt himself and his partner.
Canterbury District Commander Superintendent Tony Hill is speaking to media from the city's central police station at 12.15pm.
A livestream of the press conference can be viewed at the top of this story.
Soon after officers arrived at the address last night, a woman ran from the house, followed by a man armed with a knife.
'Believing the woman to be at risk of imminent serious harm, police shot the man, critically injuring him,' Hill said earlier today.
'The woman subsequently picked up the knife and threatened the police.'
She ignored appeals from the officers to drop the knife, instead moving towards them.
She was shot and despite police rendering medical assistance immediately, she died soon after.
The injured man was transported to hospital.
Police remain at the scene of the fatal shooting today and multiple investigations are under way.
A good friend of the woman said she had been in a relationship with the man for about five years.
'They had their troubles,' Nathan Light told the Herald.
'They were off and on fighting, arguing with each other [and] sorting their lives out.'
Light said he met the couple at a local church and the man was intending to 'get baptised in a couple of weeks'.
He said they were eager to beat their demons and had been 'ditching all their old associates'.
He said they were 'doing good'.
'They had a couple of slip-ups… it's inevitable,' Light said.
'My partner went and seen them last night. I was gonna go and see them too, but I was too tired. She said that they seemed to be okay.'
He said 'a couple of days prior', the woman had called at midnight 'begging us to come down and help'.
Light was at the house talking to the man until 2am.
Light's partner told him last night the shot man was still in 'his weird head space'.
'This morning I wake up, scroll Facebook… I f***ing just knew straight away when they said Clyde Rd… my gut was like, 'Bro, that's [his friends]'.
'And then I saw the photo and I was like, 'That's their f***ing house and that's their fence… oh no'… so I ran from home.'
A source said police had been to the address 'loads of times' for reports of family harm and other incidents.
The woman was well known to domestic violence support services and was deemed 'a high-risk client'.
A critical incident investigation is underway, and it will also be referred to the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA), which is standard for any incident involving a police shooting.
'We have spoken to next of kin, and our thoughts are with the family of those involved at this incredibly difficult time,' Hill said earlier.
'This was a distressing incident for the attending officers, and the appropriate support is being provided to them.'
According to property records, the units, which are across the road from a playground, are owned by Kāinga Ora.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
NZ Herald
a day ago
- NZ Herald
Head Hunters among rival gangs allegedly using corrupt baggage handlers to smuggle drugs through Auckland airport
The Head Hunters and members of rival gangs were allegedly using the same network of corrupt baggage handlers at Auckland airport to smuggle hundreds of kilograms of drugs into the country, the Herald can reveal. A total of 15 baggage handlers have been arrested since June following Operation Matata, a
NZ Herald
a day ago
- NZ Herald
Vector contractor tows Auckland man's prized British sports car - then can't find it
Blackburn first discovered his car was missing on Thursday, and suspected it had been towed so Vector could carry out electrical works on his street in Milford. Adrian Blackburn's 1998 MG F Rover was missing for two days after Vector contractors towed it to carry out electrical works on his street in Auckland. In a post on his Facebook page, Blackburn said he was informed by other locals that Vector had been replacing a large concrete power pole, and some vehicles had been towed to prevent any potential damage to them. He noted the emailed notices warning of work in the area hadn't specified where exactly the work was being done and made no mention of residents needing to move their vehicles. A neighbour told Blackburn someone had knocked on his door asking him to shift his van, and mentioned another neighbour's vehicle had been moved to the next road over. 'I started walking, checking both the street where my car had been parked, then neighbouring streets. No MG. A perimeter of a good 400 metres. Plenty of free kerb space for it to be parked safely again,' Blackburn said. 'Dude, where's my car?' he wrote. He then contacted Vector's help desk, and the woman on the phone was unable to find any details about where his car was. She sent a report through to the resolution team, he said. He later received an email from Vector, saying vehicles would generally be moved to nearby streets. 'We kindly suggest you do a neighbourhood check of close by streets whilst we enquire with our field services team,' the email said. Blackburn then called the help desk again, asking which towing company might have moved the car, and to where. He was unable to get any answers. He questioned why Vector did not contact owners to let them know their cars were about to be moved, possibly by getting their contact details through NZTA. He felt the company should operate with 'normal courtesies of prior notice and respectful communications' about its plans. Blackburn was able to find out online that towing companies are required to advise police when they tow a car, so today called police to see if they had any news. When the Herald called him today, he had just found his car after police gave him the address it had been towed to, several hundred metres from its original spot. 'I came down this road very carefully and didn't spot it at the time,' he said. '[I don't know] whether it was temporarily somewhere else or not. Neither I nor my neighbour - who comes up and down the road quite regularly - had seen it.' The orange convertible sports car appeared to be undamaged, he said. While glad to have his car back, Blackburn said the saga had been unnecessary and the process for finding relocated cars could be simplified. 'It just seems a total waste of time,' he said. In a statement, Vector said it notified customers in advance of planned outages, including advising owners to move their cars if they were within a worksite area. 'Towing is only carried out when absolutely necessary to complete the work, and there are strict rules in place when doing so,' Vector said. 'We understand this has been an extremely frustrating experience for Mr Blackburn, and we apologise for the inconvenience caused. We're reviewing our processes, alongside our contractors, so that in the rare event a vehicle is towed due to our work, we can better support customers in locating their vehicle.' Melissa Nightingale is a Wellington-based reporter who covers crime, justice and news in the capital. She joined the Herald in 2016 and has worked as a journalist for 10 years.
Otago Daily Times
2 days ago
- Otago Daily Times
'Seasoned' Facebook Marketplace scammer imprisoned
A "career" criminal is back behind bars for dishonesty after he duped people into handing over their vehicles in a Facebook scam. A police prosecutor said during Adrian Colbert's sentencing in Tauranga that he seemed to offend "very well and very easily" and was sceptical that another stint in prison would deter him from his "chosen career path". According to the police summary of facts, the 31-year-old used several aliases on Facebook Marketplace, including "Age Edward", "Lorenzo Matthews", "Adrian Edwards" and "Adrian James". Between July and December last year, he used the social media platform to deceive people into thinking he had bought the cars they had listed for sale in Christchurch, Wellington, Auckland and Tauranga. The cars included a Nissan Skyline, Toyota Aqua, Suzuki Swift, Honda CR-V, Toyota 86, Subaru Impreza, Holden Colorado, Volkswagen Golf, Volkswagen Polo and Mazda CX5. The Colorado and Golf were both "purchased" on the same day in November last year, both in Tauranga. Colbert would negotiate, agree a price and, when he turned up to collect the cars, would show the seller fake or altered bank statements as proof that he had transferred money for them. When the sellers went to check their accounts after Colbert had left, the money would not be there. They would chase him up, and he would either make excuses or not respond. While he mostly targeted people selling cars, he also duped someone who was selling an iPhone 15. None of the 10 cars was recovered, nor the iPhone, and the total amount owed to the victims, based on what Colbert had agreed to pay for each car, was nearly $125,000. Despite this, no reparation orders were made at sentencing, given the unrealistic prospect of Colbert being able to make payments. His lawyer told the court he already owed $63,000 in reparations. Fake items for sale, and accommodation theft Colbert also deceived people looking to buy through Marketplace. He advertised a Dyson vacuum cleaner and a Samsung Galaxy Fold 6 for sale, promising to post them once payment was received. But he never did. In August last year, he rented a three-bedroom Airbnb for a couple of nights in Porirua. One of the rooms was locked, but Colbert found a way in. He stole $300 headphones, cash in a range of currencies, including euros, pounds, yen and Singapore dollars, and about $200 in mixed coins. Last November, he checked into the Novotel Auckland Airport Hotel, paying part of the $379 owed when he arrived. While he was there, he racked up more on his account through dining, drinks and extra nights at the hotel. By the end, he owed $995. When he checked out, he told staff he couldn't afford the amount due and left without making any attempt to pay. A record that's reached 'a solid eight pages' Colbert pleaded guilty to the raft of charges, the bulk of which were "obtains by deception", and was sentenced in the Tauranga District Court last week. Judge Thomas Ingram said Colbert had obtained a "great deal of money" by deception, and he had a "long and bad record at 31 years of age". "You've been involved in [this type] of offending fairly consistently since you first started appearing in courts back in 2016." He had amassed a "huge number" of convictions in that time, and his record ran to a "solid eight pages", nearly all of which involved obtaining by deception with a "sprinkling of failing to comply with court orders and breach of release conditions and the like". Judge Ingram said it "seems to be the life you have led for over a decade now". The scale of the offending and time over which it occurred led to an "inescapable conclusion" of a prison sentence. Colbert's lawyer, Jaiden Manera, sought a starting point of two and a half years' imprisonment. He pointed to Colbert's engagement in a restorative justice conference as indicative of some remorse and advocated for minimal increases for previous offending. He pointed to drug abuse as an underlying cause for the offending. However, Judge Ingram agreed with police that a higher starting point of three and a half years was appropriate. Sergeant Richard van Arendonk had earlier remarked that this was "generous" for Colbert. "The amount of offending he's done, and that's just what we've caught him for," van Arendonk said. "He's a seasoned campaigner. I don't think anything is going to make much difference for him in his chosen career path. He seems to do it very well and very easily." Judge Ingram imposed a six-month uplift for Colbert's previous offending, and a further three months because he offended while on parole. That led to a sentence of four years and three months, but Colbert was given a 15-month credit for his guilty plea and remorse. He was sentenced to three years' imprisonment and was not given leave to apply for home detention. The judge said it was not a case where he had any "realistic hope" that Colbert would pay "even one dollar" of reparation, given his record and the amount of reparation outstanding. Therefore, no reparation orders were made. Tauranga's Area Response Manager, Senior Sergeant Scott Merritt, said Colbert was a "prolific scammer" and police were pleased to hear justice has been served with a three-year prison sentence. He urged the public to be aware of online scams, particularly through Facebook Marketplace, and take precautions: • Meet in a public place, with a friend, to conduct transactions. • Examine the item before completing the transaction. • Do not go into the person's house, or allow them into yours. • Do not deposit money into another person's account before you have received the item. • Trust your instincts – if it's too good to be true or sounds like a scam, it probably is. - Hannah Bartlett, Open Justice reporter
