Police should have recorded information about Quinn Patterson's failed attempt to import restricted gun parts before he shot two people dead, the police watchdog has found.
Police at the cordon surrounding the scene of the shooting. Photo: RNZ / Lois Williams
Patterson killed property manager Wendy Campbell and her daughter Natanya when they visited his home on the morning of 26 July last year.
The house burned to the ground later that day after an exchange of gunfire between Patterson and the police. Patterson's body was later found in the charred remains of the house.
The Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) has found that two police officers acted appropriately when firing at Patterson, but has criticised the lack of recorded information about Patterson before the shootings.
The Authority concluded that the information available before the shootings was "disparate and insufficient to raise significant concerns or warrant an emergency response before this incident occurred".
But it said police should have recorded information in the police database about Patterson's failed attempt to import restricted gun parts and empty magazines.
Patterson was imprisoned as a young man for the near-fatal stabbing of a police officer.
Patterson did not have a firearm's licence. Last week Michael John Hayes - the man who illegally supplied the firearms to Patterson - was sentenced to one year's home detention.
It was unclear whether Patterson sustained any gunshot wounds caused by police before he died, with the post-mortem finding that Patterson probably shot himself prior to the fire reaching him.
But Authority chair Judge Colin Doherty said police responded "swiftly and professionally to an extremely serious and tragic incident".
He said he was satisfied that the two officers who fired at Patterson had "no other reasonable options to protect themselves and their colleagues".
"Mr Patterson was shooting at them from an elevated position with a powerful semi-automatic firearm. Mr Patterson's own actions precluded a peaceful resolution to this incident."
In response to the finding, police said there was nothing they could have done to prevent the the deaths of the two Whangarei women who were shot dead.
Detective Superintendent Dave Lynch said police visited Patterson's property before the killings after complaints that he had built a platform for firearms target practice.
But Mr Lynch said police found no criminal activity and concluded it was a tenancy matter between Patterson and his landlord.
An officer who suspected someone was using a semi-automatic weapon in the area also had insufficient evidence for a search warrant.
Mr Lynch said there was no reason to see Patterson as an imminent threat.
