Police officers at the scene of the shooting on Monday. Photo: NZ Herald/Jason Oxenham
A neighbour of a man fatally shot in East Auckland on Tuesday is terrified the killer is still on the loose.
Police discovered the man with a gunshot wound inside a courier van in Pakuranga early on Monday.
Neighbours assumed the man didn't work and the courier van belonged to another family member.
Photo: NZ Herald/Jason Oxenham
Amanda Craig, who has lived in the area for nearly two decades, was getting ready for work when she heard the shots.
"I had just gone into the bathroom and that's the side of the house near where this all happened. I was just standing there and next minute I could hear bang, bang, bang, bang, bang - it was very fast and all in a couple of seconds.
"I was half asleep and I thought to myself 'it definitely sounds like gunshots'. It didn't seemed like the backfire of a car."
She asked her husband about the loud noises, but he didn't hear them.
"He shrugged it off, and since I was half asleep, I did too. I didn't think to call the police. I just kept getting ready for work."
Her husband left for work just minutes after the shooting, Craig said.
"It was probably a matter of only 5 to 10 minutes at the latest that he packed up, jumped in the car and left.
"He only saw one police car at that stage. I think it was just too soon after the shooting that he left to go to work. A bit later I could hear the police helicopter flying overhead and then more sirens arriving."
Craig said this was the first time such an incident had happened in their quiet neighbourhood.
"It is a pretty quiet neighbourhood and everyone keeps to themselves. I don't even know the majority of the people in my own little street, we never seem to have any trouble here.
"You don't expect something like this to happen. It was quite unbelievable."
Following the fatal shooting, police have launched a homicide investigation.
Photo: NZ Herald/Jason Oxenham
Craig said the crime had unsettled locals.
"I think it shocked a lot of people, it is very frightening to have something like that happen in such a nice neighbourhood.
"They haven't caught the shooter and we don't know who did this. Was it a targeted attack? Was it a random attack? Is the shooter still in the area? Until these questions are answered, we will be scared."
The victim was described by neighbours as a kind man who spent a lot of time gardening and playing with his grandchildren.
