'This is frightening for our community' - Counties Manukau police chief on gang-related shootings

Police say the spate of gang-related shootings in Auckland overnight are frightening for the community.

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Police responded to seven shootings last night - four of them within an hour - in the suburbs of Ōtara, Papatoetoe, Flat Bush, Papakura, Te Atatū, Henderson and Mt Albert.

Several houses were damaged but police were not aware of any injuries.

Superintendent Jill Rogers who heads the Counties Manukau police says no arrests have been made.

"It's really difficult to put a time on this sort of thing. We have a team of investigators working on last night's events which we believe are linked to the events earlier in the week so we've got to allow our team to put all of the pieces together."

She says they want to assure the community they will be holding to account those involved in this "senseless behaviour".

Rogers says police believe last night's shootings were gang-related and the addresses of the shootings have in the past had gang links.

"But one of the really concerning things to us is not necessarily still currently having links."

"We know at least two of the addresses have absolutely no links to gang activity at all, which just heightens the concern we have about this type of behaviour."

Police believe the Killer Beez and Tribesmen gangs are involved.

In November 2020, the last time these tensions elevated, a resolution to the grievances was brokered by parties from the community and police are hoping to do this again, Rogers says.

"I can assure the community that we're working really hard to identify those people who will engage with those parties that are involved in this."

Rogers says the gang intelligence units continue to liaise with the gangs involved.

"But we also encourage the community to come forward and let us know what we know."

"We know that there have been 12 incidents across Counties Manukau alone since Sunday, but that's only the offences that are reported to us and sadly, there seems to be an acceptance within our community that gun violence is acceptable. We know there are more events that have occurred..."

Since November Counties Manukau has been part of the proof of concept site for the implementation of the tactical response model, Rogers says.

The tactical prevention team have worked alongside the precision targeting team to take out several hundred firearms in planned activities, she says.

A district-wide order was made last night for police officers to be armed.

Rogers understands this was in place for a short period of time.

"I do believe a number of these weapons that have been used are high powered rifles and that causes immense concern for us."

"When we're talking about addresses that have absolutely no link to criminal activity anymore, the risk that these escalating incidents pose is enormous."

The people inside the houses not linked to gangs are "absolutely terrified" Rogers says.

"And not just the people living in these homes, this is frightening for our community to have this sort of violence escalating as it is across the community. It's only a matter of time before we see someone seriously injured or killed."

The events last night took place at 6pm.

"It's absolutely intolerable."

They were family homes with children living in them, she says.

Rogers is "really confident" in the work her officers are doing.

There is currently no routine arming of officers in Counties Manukau but Rogers says staff are encouraged to make tactical decisions as they deem appropriate for each incident they attend and will continue to have this capacity in the days to come.

Rogers says investigators are working with Northland staff to determine if there is any link to activity reported in recent days there.

"I can assure the community that we are committed to holding those people to account that take part in this abhorrent high-risk behaviour and I can assure you that you can see people held to account over that."

There will be an increase in police presence in the area over the coming days.

Meanwhile, Auckland Mayor Phil Goff has condemned the incidents, saying gangs were putting innocent people at risk and it was a miracle that no children or other bystanders had been killed.

Manukau Ward councillor Alf Filipaina said he would not be surprised if it was a result of tensions between the Killer Beez and Tribesmen which had been continuing since Killer Beez president Josh Masters was shot and left paralysed several years ago.