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A double shooting that left the son of a gang leader seriously injured has sparked fears of tit-for-tat violence in the Canterbury underworld.
Police across the region have been told to carry firearms in the wake of the incident in Kaiapoi, north of Christchurch, which occurred before dawn Monday.
While the victims are members of a gang, investigators do not believe their affiliation was the motivation for the shooting.
Police were called to a Kaiapoi property around 3:30 a.m. Monday after a man arrived there seeking help. That man, 22-year-old patched Mongrel Mob member Aotearoa Fairmont Joseph Wiringi, had been shot in the arm and torso and taken to Christchurch Hospital in serious condition. He remains there in a coma, but is believed to be stable.
At around 5 a.m., a second man was left at the hospital with a gunshot wound to his arm. His injury was not serious.
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Wiringi, who does not live in Kaiapoi, is the son of Mongrel Mob Aotearoa president Joseph “Junior” Wiringi, and the brother of patched Mob member Fairlane Wiringi.
The other injured man is a patched member of the Rebel Motorcycle Club.
John Kirk-Anderson / Stuff
Fairmont Joseph Wiringi is in serious condition after a shooting in Christchurch.
The two people who left the Rebeldes gang member at the hospital were later detained by the police.
One of them is understood to be a member of a Mongol MC gang.
Both were assisting police with their investigations, police said.
Those involved in the incident appeared to know each other and “there is no risk to the community at large,” a spokesman said.
Supplied
Joseph ‘Junior’ Wiringi, the president of Mongrel Mob’s Aotearoa chapter, surrounded by members of the band.
“We are aware of the possibility that tensions will escalate as a result of what happened and we are monitoring the situation carefully.”
On Monday morning, Canterbury District Acting Commander Detective Superintendent Tom Fitzgerald said police officers were told to carry firearms for at least 24 hours “due to increased risk.”
Police cordoned off part of Whitefield and Aldersgate streets in Kaiapoi on Monday while investigating the shooting.
A Whitefield St resident, who wanted to remain anonymous, said she was awakened by police dogs by barking outside her bedroom window.
“I stuck my head out my bedroom window and they (the police) were yelling at me to come out because at that moment they had no idea what had happened.
Stacy Squires / Stuff
Armed police and search teams examine the Whitefield St, Kaiapoi cordon.
When she left, she was confronted by armed police. They told him that someone had been shot.
Other nearby residents reported hearing loud explosions early Monday. One saw two cars fleeing the area in opposite directions.
A property in Peak Cres, Kaiapoi was also cordoned off in the wake of the shootings.
Wiringi was sentenced to 15 months in prison in October on firearms and drugs charges and for violating the national level 4 blockade.
On April 13, the police arrested him in Christchurch at 10:56 p.m. He couldn’t offer any valid reason for leaving home.
STACY SQUIRES / THINGS
Police agreed to part of Whitefield and Aldersgate streets in Kaiapoi on Monday while investigating the shooting.
When police searched the vehicle, they found methamphetamine, cannabis and an illegally felled firearm.
Wiringi’s daughter was born while he was in custody, and he had never seen her in person until his sentencing. His partner and baby, along with other whānau, were in court to support him at the hearing.
In a letter to Judge Stephen O’Driscoll, Wiringi said her daughter’s birth had been a turning point and that she felt her life had meaning and purpose for the first time.
At the request of Wiringi’s lawyer, Judge O’Driscoll allowed Wiringi’s partner to deliver their baby to him on the dock, so he could hold her for a few minutes before Corrections took him away.
STACY SQUIRES / THINGS
Police appear to be interested in this property on Aldersgate St in Kaiapoi in connection with the shooting of two people early Monday.
“I hope I never see you again, Mr. Wiringi,” said Justice O’Driscoll.
The double shooting follows a series of unrelated violent incidents in the Greater Christchurch area over the past week.
Four people were charged with the murder of a Christchurch man after a New Years Eve party at the South Island headquarters of the international motorcycle gang Mongols MC.
Police are also investigating the death of a man on England St in Linwood, Christchurch, on Sunday afternoon.
STACY SQUIRES / THINGS
Police are searching a location in Peak Cres, Kaiapoi.
A police spokeswoman previously said they were “working to determine all the circumstances” of the man’s death, and an autopsy was carried out on Monday.
On December 29, a man was seriously injured on Newmark St in Bishopdale, Christchurch.
In July last year, Mongrel Mob vice president of the Aotearoa chapter, Rota Beattie, died after having a seizure at her Christchurch home five years after she was shot in the back of the neck.
The identity of the shooter remains a mystery to police, who have never pressed charges in connection with the 2015 mob incident.
Staff Photographer / Stuff
Photo of Rota Beattie during a court appearance in 2004.
It was long suspected that a member of the Head Hunters, a rising force in the city’s underworld at the time, shot Beattie, but he and other potential witnesses refused to cooperate with the police.
The case had been “shelved,” Detective Inspector Greg Murton previously said, meaning it was no longer being investigated by police.
