Waipareira Trust head, John Tamihere has warned Maori, if offenders use a gun during a crime they deserve to get shot.

The comments were made at a Police and Maori conference at Ngaruawahia, south of Auckland.

Mr Tamihere, who is standing for Labour in the Auckland region’s Maori Hauraki Electorate, told police managers that they are right to shoot offenders brandishing firearms.

Earlier this month, Edwin Leo was killed after a police car case. Leo pulled out a replica handgun after entering into a stand off with police in west Auckland. He was shot in the limbs before a bullet caused a fatal wound to his chest.

A police complaints authority investigation revealed Leo had been warned to put his gun down. He refused and threatened police with it. He was then shot.

Mr Tamihere says Maori who choose to carry guns, or hurt police officers, deserve to be shot. However, police, he said, need to use their powers with integrity.

© Scoop Media

Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>