"Man fires at Police officers during incident in Royal Oak "

To be attributed to Inspector Gary Davey, Auckland City Police

Just after 2.30pm this afternoon Police were called after a man was seen acting suspiciously around a residential property in Manukau Road, Royal Oak.

Police went to the scene and found a man matching the description of the suspicious man.

Two officers went to approach the man to ask him about what he was doing there whilst a third officer went to speak to neighbours, to see if anyone recognised him.

As the two officers went to approach him he suddenly pulled out a gun from a backpack he was holding and started firing it at them.

This was later found to be a gas-powered, steel-pellet BB gun (pictured).

The third officer who was returning from speaking to the neighbour was struck with one of the steel pellets in the chest area.

Fortunately, his SRBA vest protected him from injury.

Another pellet struck the nearby Police car and shattered the left front-passenger window.

Another pellet struck another nearby car and dented it.

Police believe the offender fired at least six times.

The officers attempted to taser the man but this was ineffective.

All three officers then attempted to disarm the man, and used their OC (pepper) spray to do this.

The struggle continued and during this time two of the officers were caught in the residual spray.

All three continued to struggle with the man and safely disarmed and handcuffed him.

The 44 year-old was taken into custody.

He was searched at the scene and a large knife was found down the back of his pants.

He was also found to have a butterfly knife on him.

One of the officers was taken to get medical treatment for a cut to his face he sustained during the struggle, he has been treated and has since been released.

The accused is currently being interviewed and will be charged later this evening with a range of serious offences.

“I have watched the footage of this incident, which was captured on the taser cameras.

Our officers have done an amazing job here to disarm a dangerous offender in the most serious of circumstances.

In the space of a few moments this man has quickly pulled out a gun and shot at our staff.

It is a testament to their courage that they have continued to struggle with him and disarm him.

Despite being affected by the pepper spray, they have managed to subdue and disarm this man.

This was on a footpath on a very busy area and they have acted with bravery to keep our community safe.

It is sheer luck that none of our staff or any members of the public were seriously injured.

This man has then been found to have had several knives on him.

It is yet another example of what our staff are faced with every day and how quickly a situation can escalate.

Only yesterday Police said publicly that policing is a dangerous job – the pictures of the weapons this person was carrying hidden on his body say it all” says Inspector Davey.

The man will appear in the Auckland District Court tomorrow.

The charges he faces will be confirmed later this evening.

ENDS

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