Auckland shooting: Australian witness details scene as three people including gunman are killed

An Australian woman living in New Zealand has described the terrifying moment when she took cover on Thursday after gunfire rang out during a mass shooting in Auckland.

At least three people, including the gunman, were killed when a man opened fire at a construction site just hours before the Women’s World Cup was due to start there.

The 24-year-old gunman was wearing an ankle bracelet as he entered a building on Lower Queen Street at about 7:20 a.m. local time on Thursday.

Australian Erin Sokolowsky told the Today show she was on her way to work when the chaos unfolded.

“It all kind of starts to make sense, especially when you hear that people have died,” she said.

“You’ve clearly put yourself in that position where you could have been yourself, when you’re around hearing gunshots.

“I’m a little shocked and shed a few tears.”

Ms. Sokolowsky said the reality of what happened is beginning to dawn on her.

“It’s really sobering … I was supposed to attend some of the (World Cup) celebrations tonight, and I don’t really feel like it anymore …

“I just ran away in fear. And now that I hear people died and think it could have been me, of course I’m not going out tonight to celebrate.

“And I feel sorry for all the hard work that went into that.

“The biggest fear you have, I think, is other people seeing that and having copycat (incidents).”

She said she saw a stabbing outside her window a few weeks ago. ‘It’s a bit much… it’s very overwhelming.

“As humans, we’re not really made to go through this kind of thing and it takes a very macabre… kind of person to do something like that.

“In half an hour to an hour it made almost an entire city of people in the CBD feel unsafe.

“What strikes me is that it’s not the fault of the police – I think things can be done to improve safety in the city – but the biggest fear is what happens to your mental state.

“It doesn’t matter how safe you are told it is or if you know the threat is gone, the challenge now is that feeling stays with you…

“We are slowly seeing security in the city decreasing. I think that’s the serious thing because[extreme violence]is becoming more and more common,” she said.

Earlier, Ms. Sokolowsky described how the shooting went. “I haven’t seen such a big incident in ages, so obviously something was going on,” she said.

“Within a minute of walking past (the construction site), waiting for the lights, gunfire started and people started running left, right, and center.

They said five shots. It sounded like more than that. Really loud and felt very close and we couldn’t hear or see where it was coming from.

“The best we can do is run and hide behind a wall and run from there.”

Ms Sokolowsky, who works just a block away on Collins St, told host Karl Stefanovic that the area was densely populated.

“We don’t know what happened, who’s dead… it was scary,” she said.

“Just hearing the gunshots is enough to scare you, but not knowing what’s going on and the confusion it’s causing. followed.

‘I would definitely say I’ve never experienced anything like it, like something you see in movies. A city should be a place where people are safe.’

Ms Sokolowsky praised the response of the police who quickly cordoned off the area.

The NZ Herald reported that at least one of those injured was a police officer.

“This is a scary situation for Aucklanders on their Thursday morning commute,” Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown tweeted.

“Please stay at home, don’t travel to the city center.”

Commuters captured some of the police response on video that was widely shared on social media.

A worker told news website Stuff he was heading to the Shed 10 building on Queens Wharf when he saw police rushing to the area with guns.

He was told by an officer to run and stand behind a hard and solid object.

“The area wasn’t cordoned off then,” Dion Hosking said.

‘There were hundreds of construction and office workers watching.

“I was about to go in, and all of a sudden I heard bang, bang, bang.”

New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said the shooter had no known ideological or political motivation.

He told a press conference that the perpetrator was armed with a pump-action shotgun and that the two dead were innocent civilians.

“I would like to thank the brave men and women of the New Zealand Police who faced the gunfire, in direct danger, to save the lives of others,” he said.

“Situations like this move quickly and the actions of those who risk their lives to save others are nothing short of heroic.”

More to come…