Armed incident in Naenae

For the second day in a row armed police in the Wellington region have had to respond to reports of a person carrying a handgun in a residential area.

Just prior to 5pm this evening an emergency call was received from a member of public reporting a male walking along a street in Naenae, Lower Hutt, pointing a pistol at people. He had initially pointed the gun at a member of public on the street and shortly after was seen to point it again, this time at a passing vehicle.

An armed response was on scene quickly and within minutes of arrival the offender was located and taken into custody.

What is described as an authentic looking BB gun was located on the offender at the same time.

This incident comes just a day after police dealt with a male in the Titahi Bay area who was also carrying a BB gun in a residential area and was arrested after taking it into a local pub.

In both instances a complete lack of common sense and awareness of their actions has been exhibited by the respective offenders which have resulted in an unnecessary deployment of armed police resources. As with yesterdays incident, had the offender not complied immediately and appropriately to the directions of armed police officers the outcome could once again have turned into an avoidable tragedy of his own making.

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