20 Feb 2025

Three arrested after firearms incident on busy Auckland road

4:02 pm on 20 February 2025

A cafe chef on Auckland's Karangahape road has described the moment armed police swarmed the road as something out of a movie.

A number of armed police descended onto Karangahape Road on Tuesday afternoon, to the shock of nearby businesses.

Police said they arrested three people after it was reported a man was carrying a gun on nearby Hamilton Rd.

La Noisette bakery's chef Oscar Zhou told RNZ she had never seen anything like the response from police.

"I was making muffins, so I heard the cops car were all gathering," she said.

Armed police on Karangahape road.

Armed police on Karangahape Rd. Photo: Supplied

"All the cars stopped in the middle [of the road], everybody jumped out of the car and pulled out their gun,"

"It was f****** scary."

Zhou said she had been in New Zealand for 22 years, and this was the first time she had seen so many guns.

"It feels like [something] in a movie scene but in the real right in front of you."

A police spokesperson said officers had tracked a man getting into a car and travelling along Jervois Rd, and an armed traffic stop was carried out on Karangahape Rd.

"As the traffic stop was being carried out, a passenger ran from the vehicle and attempted to get into a vehicle passing by.

"Our staff prevented this from occurring and arrested the 35-year-old man, who had an outstanding warrant for his arrest."

When police searched the car, they found a paintball gun, the spokesperson said.

No injuries were reported and a man and a woman inside the car were also arrested.

Charged were being considered, the spokesperson said.

In a video supplied to RNZ, officers can be seen pointing a gun at a woman who was walking towards them with her hands on her head, before they appear to arrest her.

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