Three people are dead, including the gunman, after a shooting in CBD Auckland on Thursday just hours before the Women’s World Cup opening match, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins confirmed in a press conference.
On Thursday morning, a 24-year-old armed man entered a construction site on Lower Queen Street. About 40 minutes later, at 7:22 a.m. NZST, fire alarms went off and a man began moving “through the building site and continued to discharge his firearm,” Acting Superintendent Sunny Patel said in a statement.
“Upon reaching the upper levels of the building, the male has contained himself within the elevator shaft and our staff have attempted to engage with him,” he continued. “Further shots were fired from the male and he was located deceased a short time later.”
Patel added that police eagle helicopters hovered over the scene and the area was cordoned off by law enforcement.
Hipkins addressed the media following the incident, revealing that “six others have been injured including police” and are in the hospital.
“The sentiment from officials is that there is no national security risk — there is no change to New Zealand’s national security threat level,” Hipkins said.
He explained that the shooter was armed with a pump-action shotgun — Hipkins said he does not yet know whether it is a banned firearm in New Zealand — and was found dead in an elevator on an upper level of the building, where he was believed to have shot himself.
“Police have neutralized the threat” and are not “seeking” any other suspects in connection to the incident, Hipkins said, but “there was no identified political or ideological motivation for the shooting.”
Hipkins confirmed he spoke to FIFA organizers shortly after the shooting and “the tournament will proceed as planned.”
“I want to reiterate that there is no wider national threat. This appears to be the actions of one individual,” he said.
“We are committed to hosting this tournament,” he added later in the press conference.
One team’s players were staying in a hotel that was “immediately around the corner from the building,” according to officials, but they are confirmed to be safe and “will go about their normal business” once police open the site back up.
Police are still working to determine whether the gunman had a gun license — New Zealand requires all gun owners to be licensed before purchasing the weapon.
At this time, Hipkins said that he has not heard from other world leaders, but the incident occurred only “hours ago.” He also said, “There are conversations taking place now about how best to acknowledge what has happened.”
Several officials have shared statements on Twitter to speak about the event, including the Women’s U.S. soccer team.
“Regarding the incident in downtown Auckland, all of our USWNT players and staff are accounted for and safe,” the tweet read. “Our security team is in communication with local authorities and we are proceeding with our daily schedule.”