A sniper killed two people and injured several others on Wednesday at a construction site in downtown Auckland, northern New Zealand, hours before the first match of the Women’s Soccer World Cup.
The shooting occurred at a tower under renovation in the city’s financial district. Police say the shooter, a 24-year-old man, was found dead.
Two police officers block the street where the tragedy took place this Wednesday in Auckland, New Zealand.
Photo: AFP
According to New Zealand Heraldhe was wearing an electronic monitoring bracelet.
Six other people were injured, including a police officer.
The latter was seriously injured during his transport to the hospital, but his condition subsequently “stabilized”, said Wednesday, the acting police commissioner Sunny Patel.
New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said there was no threat to national security and said the World Cup, jointly hosted by Australia and his country, would start as planned on Thursday.
New Zealand and Norway were due to meet a few hours later in Auckland, but the Canadian team was in Australia at the time of the attack.
Photo Reuters
THE DailyMail reported that the gunman stormed the building, around 7:20 a.m. local time, after a fire alarm went off. The shots were reportedly heard 40 minutes later.
A construction worker inside the skyscraper told local media that a man holding a gun had climbed the stairs “floor by floor”.
He seemed to be “looking for someone”
Another shopkeeper said he passed the shooter on the stairs. He would have ordered him to climb on the roof of the building, threatening to shoot him.
“He looked like he was looking for someone,” said another worker.
“Upon reaching the upper levels of the building, the man locked himself in the elevator shaft and our staff attempted to engage him,” Sunny Patel said. Further shots were fired by the man and he was found deceased a short time later.”
– With AFP