About 20 armed police officers responded to an incident at 9pm on Monday night in which a firearm was discharged at Morison Bush.
A police spokesperson confirmed that this was an isolated incident that involved numerous weapons, and that it was “dealt with” by responding police officers and the person involved arrested.
The spokesperson confirmed that local police were armed as a precaution and both the Offender Prevention Team and Armed Offenders Squad [AOS] attended the incident.
“AOS were called in due to the likelihood of a firearm being present,” the spokesperson said.
A 32-year-old person was arrested, and the firearm has been seized.
The arrested individual appeared before Masterton District Court yesterday, charged with unlawfully carrying a firearm and the discharge of a firearm.
The police spokesperson noted that the significant police presence was unusual for Wairarapa but that such a response is required whenever police respond to reports of a firearm being discharged.
“We take that very seriously,” they said.
The person who had the weapon in their possession and discharged it did not hold a firearms licence.
Police are making further enquiries into where the gun came from and who owned it.
Why was this not made public to the Wairarapa public till after the event ?