Martin De Ruyter/Stuff
Two men have been arrested in relation to a Labour Weekend shooting where a woman in a car was shot in the arm.
Two men have been arrested in relation to a Labour Weekend shooting in Ōpōtiki where a woman in a car was shot in the arm.
The incident followed a spate of gang-related shootings in the Ōpōtiki area, and led to police being granted special search powers.
The 20-year-old woman told police she was injured when the car she was in was shot at on Saturday October 21.
Both men, aged 28, are charged with doing a dangerous act with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. They are due to appear in Ōpōtiki District Court on November 8 and 16.
Police area commander Inspector Nicky Cooney said the arrests came after seven properties and 34 vehicles were searched under warrants invoked by the Criminal Activity Intervention Legislation (CAIL) Act 2023.
Cooney said police initially received multiple calls of shots being fired at cars and houses around Ōpōtiki, linked to ongoing tensions between Black Power and Mongrel Mob in the area.
“To date, police have located and seized over $27,000 in cash, two firearms, 10 offensive weapons, ammunition, drugs – including cannabis, LSD and meth – and impounded two vehicles.”
Eleven people had been arrested, two summonsed, three warned and two referred to Youth Aid, she said.
Abigail Dougherty & Tony Wall/Stuff
Hundreds of Mongrel Mob members gathered in Ōpōtiki for the funeral of slain Barbarians boss Steven Taiatini.
“Police will remain visible in the community and ready to respond to instances where individuals who consider themselves above the law, put others in harm’s way.”
Cooney said people connected to gangs and organised crime could expect to be targeted for any criminal offending.
Although community leaders contacted by Stuff in the week following the Labour Weekend shooting were not willing to speak about the situation in the town, residents who did speak off the record, said life was continuing fairly normally, with main street businesses still operating and residents able to go about their shopping as usual.
Gang tensions came to a head in the town in June, when Mongrel Mob president Steven Rota Taiatini was killed when he was run down in a street during a stoush between Mongrel Mob Barbarians and Black Power.
