Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King
A spate of shootings over recent days in Tairāwhiti is "extremely concerning", police say.
There have been three over the past couple of days, after another just last week.
A 17-year-old male arrived at Hawke's Bay Hospital yesterday with a gunshot injury to his finger.
The injury was reported to have occurred during an incident on Tuesday night in Wairoa, but was not reported to police at the time.
Early this morning, about 12.40am, police received multiple reports of gunshots being heard from a property in outer Kaiti.
Police responded and found a number of patched gang members but there was no immediate evidence of a gun being fired..
Shortly after, just before 1am, shots were fired through an address in Mangapapa. No one was injured in the incident.
"Enquiries into both of these incidents are ongoing and we are looking at the possibility they are linked," Tairāwhiti area commander Inspector Sam Abreahama said.
"We thank those members of the community who contacted police last night to report these incidents and continue to encourage them to do so.
There have also been a number of serious incidents where firearms have been used and police said patrols would be increased.
"We are constantly assessing the deployment of our officers and changing this as needed but working with our partners and the community is the key to preventing this type of offending," Abreahama said.
There is a community rally happening tomorrow to try and find solutions and police said they would be attending.
Anyone with information on these incidents can contact police anonymously via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.