A person is in hospital with serious injuries after reports of a firearms incident at a South Auckland park this afternoon.
Armed police can be seen outside Leabank Park, which has been cordoned off, on Claymore St in Manurewa.
Emergency services responded to a report that shots may have been fired around 3.10pm.
Multiple people were present at the park, police said.
A person was found seriously injured, and they were transported by ambulance to Middlemore Hospital.
Police remain at the park and inquiries are under way to establish the circumstances surrounding this incident, a spokesperson said.
Senior sergeant Anton Maisey said there was one male victim with a moderate injury.
He had what looked like a stab wound on one arm, he told the Herald.
Asked if the incident was gang related, Maisey said one of the people involved was wearing red, and the other blue or black.
Nobody else was believed to be involved, he said.
“There’s no one else here except the victim’s friends,” he said, gesturing to a group of four young men wearing red.
One of those men said he did not see what happened and had only just arrived.
Police cars are blocking a small section of the road and two men are being interviewed.
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A St John ambulance and rapid response unit responded to the incident at 3.09pm, a spokesperson told the Herald.
One patient was treated for serious injuries and taken to hospital.
A staff member at a nearby business said he saw three police cars speeding past within the last hour.
A resident said a large number of police cars were seen travelling down Friedlanders Rd, followed by a police helicopter, this afternoon.
It comes three days after Joseph Tauiti, 21, died in Middlemore Hospital from critical injuries, sparking a homicide investigation.
An altercation between two groups of people broke out in the velodrome car park in Manukau on New Year’s Day.
Gang tensions and firearms incidents have increased in Auckland.
Figures released exclusively to the Herald by Auckland’s three district health boards show the city’s hospitals have treated nearly 350 patients for firearms injuries since January 2016.
Half of the victims were from Counties Manukau, with Middlemore Hospital patching up 171 patients. Thirteen children who’d been shot were cared for at Starship hospital.
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