A Northland woman says the remote location where a police officer was shot at would have made the ordeal even more terrifying.
The police say early on Tuesday morning two men with guns approached a female officer's car and fired a shot into her windscreen, south of Kerikeri.
A kidnapping and car being set alight in the area could be linked.
A local woman has lived on Puketotara Road near Kerikeri for 16 years told Jean Bell the area is mostly farm land.