A gunman killed two people and injured five others in downtown Auckland on Thursday, just hours before the FIFA Women’s World Cup is due to kick off in New Zealand’s largest city.
(Bloomberg) — A gunman killed two people and injured five others in downtown Auckland on Thursday, just hours before the FIFA Women’s World Cup is due to kick off in New Zealand’s largest city.
The shooter, armed with a pump-action shotgun, discharged the firearm as he moved through a building that’s under construction in Auckland’s central business district around 7 a.m. local time, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins told a press conference. The man barricaded himself in an elevator shaft in the upper levels of the building and exchanged fire with police before being found dead a short time later.
“I want to reiterate that there is no wider national security threat,” Hipkins said. “This appears to be the actions of an individual.”
The shooting comes just hours before Auckland hosts the opening ceremony of the 2023 Women’s World Cup, with the first game between New Zealand and Norway scheduled for this evening. The area where the incident occurred is Auckland’s main business and entertainment hub and a number of World Cup teams, including the US squad, are staying at hotels there. A fan zone is also nearby.
Hipkins said the government has spoken to FIFA organizers and the tournament will proceed as planned. All players and officials are safe.
“Obviously this has been a very grim morning for us, but we are committed to hosting this tournament and there is no ongoing risk here,” he said. “We will have a very active police presence to provide that reassurance.”
Police Commissioner Andrew Coster said the offender was a 24-year-old man with a history of family violence. He was on home detention but had an exemption to work at the construction site where the shooting took place, he told a press briefing.
As the shooter moved through the building, many workers took cover and hid, Coster said. Four of the wounded were members of the public and the fifth was a police officer, with injuries ranging from moderate to serious.
“This has been a shocking and tragic event for those people who came to work and found themselves in the middle of an armed emergency,” Coster said. “Thankfully, many people were able to escape the building but I know for that for those that hid or remained trapped, this was a terrifying experience.”
Gun crime is relatively rare in New Zealand, though the nation was rocked by a massacre at two mosques in the South Island city of Christchurch in 2019 that left 51 people dead.
–With assistance from Tracy Withers.
(Updates with Police Commissioner comments from seventh paragraph)
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