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Police to delve into ‘true detail’ of Waitārere Beach shooting as critically injured survivors fight for their lives
- ody of dead man to be removed on Thursday
- Scene examination could continue into weekend
- Three survivors critically wounded in Wellington Hospital
- Police reveal they attended a first callout to the Waitārere Beach property hours earlier
- Relative of dead man names Benjamin Timmins
- Police describe “hideous” scene and “harrowing ordeal” for first responders
There is much the police are unable to say so soon after the shootings at Waitārere Beach that have left a woman and two young men fighting for their lives.
They cannot yet say if it is a family harm incident, as the local mayor said it was.
Speaking to RNZ on Wednesday night, police also said it was too soon to say how those involved are related, what type of gun was used, or why police were called to the address just hours earlier.
But among the things they are able say is that the scene that met emergency services was “hideous”.
“It’s not a good thing to describe,” Manawatū area commander Inspector Ross Grantham said.
“They immediately went into first aid mode and through their work, identified one person as deceased and continued their first aid services to the other three,” he said.
“So our people did the best they could and got those three survivors out of there as quickly as we could with the services of our local volunteer fire service and ambulance.”
Photo: RNZ/Mark Papalii
A 111 call was made at about 12.40am on Wednesday and police were there within eight minutes.
But it was not the first call for help.
Police revealed to RNZ they had also been called to the same property hours earlier at about 7pm.
“We had been called to the address earlier in the night and we had attended and from that we took some action,” Grantham said.
“And the next call, of course, we attended and found what we found.”
Grantham said he could not give further detail about what action was taken, or why police were called the first time.
“We really need to get down to the true detail of what that was all about but what I can say, is that the call was made by the older female at the address,” he said.
“And then unfortunately, the next call we got, it was a different state of affairs in the address.”
Photo: RNZ/Mark Papalii
The dead man has been named by a relative as Benjamin Timmins.
His sister described the 60-year-old as her rock, her friend, her protector “and above all, my brother”.
“I will miss him,” she said.
She said it was with the “heaviest of broken hearts” that she was sharing that he was dead.
“The last of the good old boys,” she wrote.
“Loved friend, father, and brother. Trickster, funny fella, all round solid gold.”
Police were still working to properly identify everyone involved, Grantham said.
“Whilst we have some information that says these people live at the address, we need to confirm that everybody is there and who they truly are and then we can start talking about any sort of relationships between them.”
Photo: RNZ/Mark Papalii
The survivors in Wellington Hospital were at the most severe end of “critical,” Grantham said.
“The really positive thing is that whilst they’re in critical condition, they are still alive and I think that the quick services provided by police, the volunteer fire service and the ambulance services absolutely made that fighting chance possible for them.”
A young girl who was at the scene is being cared for by extended family.
When asked if she was related to Timmins, Grantham said: “Again, it’s a little bit early to say because we don’t know the true identities of everybody in the scene, but I believe she is related.”
“I believe the family have been extremely open to the police and supportive of us and, of course, the young girl.”
On Thursday, Timmins’ body will be taken to the mortuary in Palmerston North ahead of a post-mortem on Friday.
Grantham said the scene examination could extend into the weekend.
“Whilst the scene examination is underway we will continue to guard the scene and the public within the community can expect to see a more heavy police presence there than they normally would,” Grantham said.
“It’s like most small communities in New Zealand, everybody knows everybody or somebody knows somebody and so it will have a very wide impact on that community and the community within the Horowhenua.”
Police were not seeking anyone else, and Grantham could not confirm if it was family harm.
“Family harm is a very wide spectrum and if this is indeed family harm, then it is most certainly at the top end of that spectrum,” he said.
“That is terribly, terribly sad.”
rnz
The chief executive of the Parliamentary Service is confident there will be enough room to accommodate the increased number of MPs and their staff coming into Parliament.
On current numbers, up to 131 MPs could be sitting in the Chamber following the election, brought on by a record overhang result.
Clerk of the House of Representatives Dr David Wilson told the Spinoff that currently the debating chamber had enough chairs to seat 124 MPs – including the Speaker of the House – and work was being done to accommodate more by altering the seating arrangement.
In a statement, Parliamentary Service chief executive Rafael Gonzalez-Montero said planning for a larger Parliament had been going for “some time”.
“Now that the election results have confirmed an increase to the number of members we are looking at several options.
“We are confident we will be able to accommodate all members within the Chamber.”
VNP / Phil Smith
Gonzalez-Montero said office accommodation for members and their staff would be “stretched” for a short time, but the new Members’ Building was only a few months away from “practical completion”.
That building – located behind Parliament – was due to be ready to occupy in April next year and had capacity to accommodate around 30 backbench MPs.
“All members should be in fit-for-purpose accommodation from that point,” Gonzalez-Montero said.
Following the 2023 election, 123 MPs sat in the Chamber – a record number at the time. That decreased to 122 following the resignation of National MP Judith Collins.
Collins held the seat of Papakura and stepped down in May and Parliament voted against holding a by-election because it was too close to the election.
The election result also meant high-ranking National Party MPs like Chris Bishop, Paul Goldsmith, Nicola Willis and Gerry Brownlee – Speaker of the House and an MP for 30 years – would likely not make it back into Parliament.
Only resigning or retiring MPs were permitted to give a valedictory speech meaning none of them would get the chance to give a valedictory statement.
Asked if their would be special allowances for valedictories, Wilson said in a statement that normally only MPs were allowed to speak in the House but the House could suspend its own rules or temporarily alter them.
“It could do so to allow former members to address the House.”
Wilson said no such arrangements could be made until the next Parliament opened and members sworn in.
rnz
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