5 Nov 2009

Man sought by police turns himself in

7:27 pm on 5 November 2009

The police hunt for a gunman in Lower Hutt and Wellington on Thursday was called off when a 21-year-old man turned himself in at Lower Hutt police station shortly after 6pm.

Forty police officers had spent nine hours searching for a man who fled after allegedly brandishing a weapon at an officer when stopped over a traffic matter in the Lower Hutt suburb of Naenae.

The head of the manhunt, Inspector Geoff Gwyn, said it had been a long and worrying day for the public, the police and the Armed Offenders Squad.

He said the 21-year-old, who was unarmed when he came to the station, would appear in the Lower Hutt District Court on Friday on charges under the Arms Act.