October 20 2016

Police arrest armed man who fled Police in Rotorua

The following can be attributed to Inspector Bruce Horne, Rotorua Area Commander

At about 2.30 pm this afternoon a vehicle was detected by police driving at excessive speed on Fenton Street in Rotorua.

The vehicle was stopped a short time later across the road from the police station on Fenton Street.

There were two people in the vehicle. A passenger got out and spoke to the police officer who had stopped the vehicle. The driver of the vehicle took the opportunity to drive away at speed.

The police officer who has stopped the car pursued the vehicle. During the pursuit the police officer who had stopped the vehicle sought assistance from other police staff.

The fleeing driver circled the Rotorua CBD and then returned to Fenton Street.

The driver attempted to avoid road spikes that had been deployed by police on Fenton Street by driving along the side of the road. In doing so, he collided with a concrete wall and his vehicle was quickly surrounded by police cars that prevented him from being able to drive off.

The driver has fled his vehicle on foot.

It was at this time that officers saw the male was carrying a firearm.

Two officers continued to follow the male at a distance on foot in order to observe his movements. Neither of those officer were armed.

It is alleged the offender has turned and confronted those police officers on at least two occasions, threatening to shoot them.

The offender has then gone to a business address around 100m from where he has left the car, and attempted to steal another vehicle.

During this process, he has been surrounded by armed Police. A Taser was deployed, and the male was arrested.

Police recovered a loaded firearm from the vehicle he was attempting to steal.

The male was taken to hospital for routine checks following the Taser deployment.

The male is expected to face driving and firearms charges.

Rotorua Area Commander, Inspector Bruce Horne, has praised the bravery of the two staff who set off in pursuit of the offender.

“Their actions were selfless and motivated by the safety of others. Their immediate concern was the possibility that the offender would try and hijack another vehicle or take a hostage, and they were determined to do whatever they could to prevent that from happening – notwithstanding the fact they were not armed themselves.

"It would have been a very tense minute or so for them until other armed police staff arrived in support and were able to carry out the arrest. It was a fantastic team effort and a credit to the professionalism of all of the police staff involved that this incident was resolved quickly and without anyone being seriously injured.”

ENDS

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