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It was New Zealand’s worst mass shooting in nearly 30 years. A gunman, angry after arguing with a neighbor, murdered 13 adults and children in the small coastal community where he lived.
It was on November 13, 1990, when David Gray went on fire in Aramoana, a picturesque town near Dunedin.
He was shot to death by members of the specialized antiterrorist squad the next day when he lunged at them, firing a rifle at random and yelling “kill me, damn it, kill me.”
David Wethey / Stuff
This photograph of the Aramoana Township, taken while the police are looking for the murderer David Gray. Gray’s house is directly below the two water tanks at the top of the photo. It was destroyed by fire in the following days. Bodies were found near the white ute on top of the frame.
On the anniversary of the massacre, which was New Zealand’s deadliest shooting for 29 years prior to the 2019 Christchurch terror attack, Police Commissioner Andrew Coster acknowledged “lives lost and lives forever changed.” Among the 13 dead was one of the police officers: Sergeant Stewart Guthrie, 41.
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“In days like today, the pain of those who knew those who died is felt as deeply as all those years ago,” Coster said.
“There are also many others who are still living and who will be reliving the emotions they felt that day.”
David Hallett / Things
This image shows tear gas coming from David Gray’s home and members of the police counterterrorism squad behind the bushes before breaking into his home.
Coster paid tribute to those involved, including the families of the victims and first responders.
Along with Guthrie, those who died were: Rewa Bryson, 11, Simon Cole, 62, Victor Crimp, 71, James Dickson, 45, Garry Holden, 38, Jasmine Holden, 11, Magnus Jamieson, 69, Ross Percy, 42, Vanessa Percy, 26, Dion Percy, 6, Aleki Tali, 41, and Leo Wilson, 6.
Gray is believed to have started his rampage after an argument with neighbor Garry Holden about animals.
Gray fatally shot Holden and wounded Holden’s 9-year-old daughter, Chiquita. He still has shrapnel in his abdomen.
Alexander Turnbull Library
David Malcolm Gray was shot and killed by police in this Aramoana home on November 14, 1990.
Gray then spilled gasoline on the family home and killed Chiquita’s sister, Jasmine, and her friend Rewa.
“I wasn’t scared at all. I think I just went into survival mode,” Chiquita Holden said. Things in a 2014 interview.
He ran past his father, who was lying face down and surrounded by blood. I knew he was dead.
She fled to a neighbor’s house for help and told them that “David has lost his mind.”
“I said … ‘he shot me and he shot dad.’
Supplied
David Gray killed 13 people in Aramoana, near Dunedin, in 1990.
Guthrie, who was the sole officer in charge at the Port Chalmers Police Station, responded immediately when he heard that a gun had been fired.
He knew Gray, and he and another officer, Agent Russell Anderson, found him at his home.
Guthrie challenged Gray when the gunman fled to the back of his property. Gray responded with a series of shots, one of which killed the officer instantly.
The bodies of nine other people remained in the city as members of the armed criminal squad and the Wellington-based anti-terror squad tried to stop the massacre.
They found the bodies of several young children, including one who had been riding his bike, as they went from house to house looking for Gray.
“I was sure he was not going to show us mercy. He had nothing to lose,” Murray Forbes, a member of the anti-terrorist squad, said of the day.
Police were ordered to shoot to kill, but first they had to find Gray.
He was eventually seen in a shed with a broken window and came out demanding that the police shoot him.
He was shot five times, but still “fought like crazy while being pinned to the ground,” Forbes said.
Margaret Agnew / Things
A monument to those who died in Aramoana.
Guthrie’s nephew, Superintendent Jason Guthrie, is a New Zealand police officer today.
“I always admired and was very proud of the work he did,” he said.
Stewart Guthrie was posthumously awarded the George Cross for his conspicuous gallantry.
The Christchurch terror attack on March 15, 2019, in which 51 people were killed, tragically surpassed Aramoana to become the worst mass shooting in the country.
It led to the immediate end of over-the-counter sales of semi-automatic firearms and changes to the country’s firearms laws, which had been advocated by some since the Aramoana massacre.
After March 15, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said it was “now … the time for change.”
At the time, police estimated that between 55,000 and 240,000 firearms could be surrendered under the changes in the law. The government allocated $ 208 million to compensate affected firearm owners.
