'People have had enough': NZ politician slams justice system after Auckland shooting
A former New Zealand deputy prime minister has hit out at Auckland's justice system after yesterday's fatal shooting, saying crime in the city has been "disastrously" escalating.
It's been revealed the 24-year-old gunman who shot and killed two people and injured 10 others, including two police officers, was serving a home detention sentence after he violently attacked and strangled a woman in 2021.
Speaking on Today, politician Winston Peters has questioned how the shooter got his hands on a shotgun while he was serving a sentence for violent offences.
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NZ politician Winston Peters has asked how the Auckland shooter managed to get a shotgun while on home detention. Nine
Police officers stand guard near the location of a reported shooting in Auckland, New Zealand on July 20, 2023. REUTERS/Nathan Frandino REUTERS
Peters said crime had significantly increased in recent years, attributing the rise to the justice system.
"Crime has seriously escalated in the last two and a half years because of a policy of catching and letting people go," he said.
"It's more like a fishing policy - catch and release.
"The consequences have been disastrous and there have been ram raids in their hundreds and hundreds. People here have simply had enough and they are sick of excuses."
Matu Tangi Matua Reid was wearing an ankle monitor when he carried out the shooting at a construction site on lower Queen Street in Auckland yesterday.
Police Commissioner Andrew Coster confirmed has confirmed Reid was allowed to be at work at the site as a condition of his bail.
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Matu Tangi Matua Reid is the man who shot and killed two people in Auckland's CBD on Thursday. Stuff
Department of Corrections acting national commissioner Sean Mason said Reid was subject to 10 standard conditions and five special conditions during his home detention period.
These include residing at a specific address, not consuming alcohol and non-prescription drugs and completing a non-violence program to the satisfaction of a probation officer.
Four investigations into yesterday's shooting have been launched in Auckland, with two centred around the police response and a third around the offender himself.
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