A neighbour claims he has CCTV footage of the drive-by shooting and those responsible fleeing the area. Photo / Hayden Woodward
A home in South Auckland was shot up last night in a drive-by shooting – with a volley of gun shots being fired through windows in the two-storey house.
Neighbours reported that the house on Timmer Rd, Flat Bush, was reportedly targeted around 10 pm.
It is the latest in a spate of recent shootings targeting homes in the Auckland region.
But at yet, police are yet to confirm if the incident is linked to previous shootings which have been related to rising gang tensions.
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One resident said he initially “heard gunshots” then he could ear “a vehicle leaving at high speed”.
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The resident said they had captured parts of the incident on CCTV.
Police at the sence were unable to comment.
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The Herald has contacted the police media team for more information.
The recent spate of shootings saw at least 23 drive-by incidents occuring in just a two-week period up to early June.
Then Police Minister Poto Williams revealed the concerning number during questioning in Parliament Tuesday, saying the shootings were linked to two unnamed gangs.
The Herald had previously reported they were believed to be the Killer Beez and the Tribesmen, who were previously allies but were now in conflict with each other.
The series of drive-by shootings began on the weekend of March 21 with three incidents in Red Hill, Mangere and Flat Bush.
The Red Hill property on Brooke Rd was riddled with bullets shot from a passing car, police reported at the time, though no one was injured. One officer told a resident that they had found 44 bullet casings on the street.
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Williams told Parliament that police had launched a “major disruption and suppression” operation in response to the gang tensions.
Up to early June, that operation had so far led to 22 search warrants supported by armed police, 22 arrests, 37 charges, 10 seized guns and 300 rounds of ammunition.
Accusing of being soft on crime by Opposition parties, she said that gang tensions had been a feature of New Zealand communities for more than 50 years. She urged her critics against politicising the gang violence and the police response.
A new crackdown on gangs, called Operation Cobalt, was being launched.
The rise in shootings saw Manukau ward councillor and former long-serving South Auckland police officer Alf Filipaina again speaking out about violence in his area.
“It’s just shocking. People just don’t care about using firearms.
“I’m quite adamant in putting the onus on the families who know where these firearms are.”
The councillor reiterated his call for more funding for youth workers, which he said had been highly effective when introduced in the area about 15 years ago, after a spate of homicides, before funding dried up a few years later.
“I’ve been a broken record. It wraps the family around, it goes into the family and finds out why they’re doing this, why they’re going into gangs,” Filipaina said.
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