At least three people have been killed in a shooting in Auckland

Istanbul

The head of the New Zealand Police, Commissioner Andrew David Koster, announced this Thursday that at least three people were killed and five others injured in a shooting in the northern city of Auckland.

In a statement, Koster said police received several emergency calls at 7:22 a.m. local time about a man shooting “from the third floor of a building under construction at the end of Queen Street.”

Police officers evacuated the building and at 8 a.m., “the Armed Crime Squad, along with the Special Tactics Team, located the perpetrator in an elevator void where he had barricaded himself,” Koster noted.

The commissioner pointed out that the suspect “shot at the police, wounding one officer,” causing an “exchange of gunfire,” and asserted that “the assailant was later found dead.”

“Unfortunately, the police found two dead civilians on the lower level of the construction site,” the commissioner added, stressing that the injured officer was “taken to hospital in critical condition”. However, the commissioner insisted that his condition was “stabilised”.

According to the commissioner, “four civilians have moderate to very serious injuries,” of which “at least one presented himself at Auckland City Hospital with moderate injuries.”

“While the situation is still evolving, we know there may be more victims as the police are informed and the circumstances of this injury may change,” the commissioner added.

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