The Authority oversaw a Police critical incident investigation into the death of Mr Matu Reid on 20 July 2023. At the time, Mr Reid was working for a contractor at a construction site at 1 Queen Street, Auckland and had entered the construction site with a shotgun.
At around 7:15am, Mr Reid entered the building and went to the third floor of the construction site where his colleagues were meeting. He shot and killed two colleagues and injured a number of others. He then entered an internal stairwell and made his way up the building. When Mr Reid was approaching the 17th floor, he shot and wounded a construction worker running away from him.
At around 7:23am, Police started receiving calls from members of the public reporting there was an active shooter at 1 Queen Street and that a person had been shot. Records show that 373 construction workers were on site.
Armed Police officers, including members of the Armed Offenders Squad (AOS) and Special Tactics Group (STG) responded. A team of constables and their sergeant were first to arrive and entered the building. Construction workers making their way down the stairs told the officers that Mr Reid was on the upper levels of the building, around level 19. The officers, in single file, went up the stairs. When they neared level 19, the officer at the front called out to Mr Reid, telling him to surrender. Mr Reid appeared from higher up in the stairwell and shot at the officer, narrowly missing him. The officer fired five shots in the direction of Mr Reid. The shots missed Mr Reid who made his way further up the building.
Mr Reid entered a partially constructed lift shaft. There were four lift shafts, and each was secured with a plywood door. AOS and STG officers positioned themselves outside the lift shafts on Levels 18, 19 and 20. Officers on Level 20 talked to Mr Reid from outside the lift shaft and told him to surrender. The officers believed Mr Reid was in one of the lift shafts on the 19th floor.
At about 8:05am, officers on Level 18 started breaching the plywood doors. When they breached the last door on the left, they unexpectedly encountered Mr Reid who fired two shots, hitting two officers and seriously wounding one of them. Other officers immediately dragged the two officers to safety.
Officers continued to instruct Mr Reid to surrender. Mr Reid raised his firearm and fired one shot. Officers fired at Mr Reid and one round struck him in the forearm. Mr Reid died at the scene from what was later established to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The Police investigation found that the officers were justified in shooting at Mr Reid under section 48 of the Crimes Act 1961 (self-defence) because they feared for their lives and the lives of other officers present.
The Authority considers that Police conducted a thorough investigation and agrees with its findings and outcome. The Authority acknowledges the bravery of the Police officers involved.
IPCA: 23-18861