Tension after Nelson shooting

PATRICK HAMILTON/ The Nelson Mail

WATCHFUL VIGIL: Two passersby stay with Troy Minto's body after Saturday's shooting in Branford Park.

Related Links

Victim had 'turned life around' Sally Kidson's first-person account of Saturday's shooting

Relevant offers

Police were putting extra security around Nelson District Court today for the appearance of five men charged in relation to the fatal shooting of a 22-year-old Nelson man in the Maitai Valley.

Troy Minto was killed by a single shotgun blast to the chest at Branford Park on Saturday evening.

A 24-year-old Stoke man has been charged with his murder and was scheduled to appear in court this afternoon.

Four other men from Stoke, Richmond and Timaru, all in their early 20s, have been jointly charged with unlawful assembly and unlawful possession of a firearm.

Police intended seeking a remand in custody for all the men while they completed inquiries. They said this morning that further charges were likely and further arrests possible.

Nelson Bays area commander Detective Inspector John Winter said a dispute over a woman was central to the fatal shooting, which happened after a fight between two groups of men.

The fight was pre-arranged by text message, he said.

Police were initially called with reports of up to 12 people fighting. Police were still piecing together where the men had been before the incident.

He said the woman at the centre of the dispute was the girlfriend of one of the victim's friends and the ex-girlfriend of another man from the other group. The victim was not connected to the woman, Mr Winter said.

He said police were aware that a baseball bat, cricket bats and even knuckle dusters were also used in the fight. A white ute was seen leaving the scene and a wooden baseball bat was left lying partly on the road.

Mr Winter would not comment on a suggestion that Mr Minto had been stepping in to intervene in the fight when he was shot.

Mr Winter said this morning that tensions between the two groups had been "escalating and boiling away" for three months, but Saturday was the first time police had got involved.

The firearm used was recovered by police on Saturday night.

He said the men were not gang members but were "all pretty much known to police".

The use of a shotgun in a confrontation has shocked many people in Nelson.

However, Mr Winter said the public should not be unduly anxious. "There's no suggestion that everybody is carrying knives and guns around Nelson. People don't need to be too concerned, we are dealing with it as an isolated incident."

Mr Winter said that interviews with witnesses were continuing.

He said no final decision had yet been made on whether charges would be laid against the other group involved in the dispute, but that would be reviewed once all information had been gathered and assessed.

Four of the arrested men were caught by police at a Richmond address by the armed offenders squad about 11pm on Saturday night.

"It was a deliberate AOS operation. We had a number of addresses that were searched and it was at one of these addresses the four men were found leaving," Mr Winter said.

A fifth man was arrested by police in Motueka about noon yesterday, and police recovered a vehicle from Motueka which would be examined by ESR staff.

Mr Winter said there was "a lot of tension out there" which police had been told about in relation to today's court appearance, so additional security would be in place.

Police were not sure how many people had left the scene of the fight before talking to police and they wanted to hear from witnesses they had not spoken to. Police also wanted to speak to a second group of people who may have received text messages or phone calls about the shooting after it happened. Those people could have information that was important to police and should contact them, he said.

Crime scene investigators arrived at the scene yesterday, after which Mr Minto's body was removed. A post-mortem was to be carried out this morning at Nelson Hospital.

Rick Miller, who lives in Mill St opposite Branford Park, said nearby residents were "shellshocked" by what had happened, and he felt it was lucky that no-one else in the area at the time was injured by the shooter.

He said in an email to The Nelson Mail there were joggers, swimmers and residents nearby, plus members of the group involved, who had been left "deeply affected".

- © Fairfax NZ News