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The South Auckland community are rallying around the families of the two men who lost their lives in the Auckland CBD shooting at daybreak last Thursday.
On July 20, 24-year-old Matu Tangi Matua Reid travelled to a construction site at 1 Queen St in Auckland’s CBD, and opened fire on a number of construction workers.
Reid had been working on the construction site, one of well over 100 contractors from various firms.
Reid’s motivation behind the shooting is not yet confirmed, but it’s understood it related to his employment at the site.
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Police confirmed the two men who died during the shooting were Solomona Tootoo and Tupuga Sipiliano.
Tootoo, 45, was from Manurewa and Sipiliano, 44, was from Wattle Downs.
Councillors from the south Auckland area have been supporting the families of the victims along with the wider community.
Manurewa-Papkura Ward councillor Daniel Newman had been helping one victim’s families to make funeral arrangements.
“They are in a state of absolute shock and grief,” Newman said.
”No one expects to go to work and lose their lives.”
LAWRENCE SMITH/Stuff
Police were called to the scene of the shooting at 7.22am on Thursday.
Newman said his community was “nervous about the growing sense of lawlessness” in Aotearoa, suggesting that measures such as bail reforms need to be looked at.
When Reid committed the attack, he was on home detention for domestic violence offending against a partner in 2021.
However, Reid was allowed to travel to his place of work, which is where the shooting occurred.
Newman said he “shouldn’t have been there”.
“The days of tolerance for criminal offending need to be over,” he said.
In contrast to Newman, Manukau Ward councillor Alf Filipania, stressed the shooting was “an isolated incident”.
Chris McKeen/Stuff
Three police cars and a community hub remain at the scene of Thursdays shooting.
”This is not something that is commonplace, this is not something that will continue to happen,” he said.
Filipania hoped mana whenua would bless the site, so construction workers felt safe to return.
Marama Royal, chairperson of Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei, said Ngāti Whātua would “undertake to restore the area where the events took place over the coming days”.
“This will include a private dawn ceremony for those most closely affected by the tragedy, as well as a public service on Thursday.”
Filipania’s fellow Manukau Ward councillor Lotu Fuli sent sincere condolences to the aiga (family) of the victims, and said the fatal shooting was “very sad” and “shocking”.
“The loss of loved ones will be hitting the extended families and our Pasifika community hard,” she said.
Chris McKeen/Stuff
Flowers lie at the foot of the sculpture of A Maori Figure In A Kaitaka Cloak next to the construction site on Monday morning.
Fuli also offered her condolences to the family of Reid.
”We should remember that his whānau will also be hurting,” she said.
“My thoughts and prayers go out to those who are in hospital and the many workers and emergency staff who were affected by this tragedy. I wish them all a speedy recovery.”
Fuli said she would expect the tragedy would affect people “for some time”, and advised her community to get mental health support for what they may be going through.
Ten people were injured during the shooting, with four people still in hospital on Monday morning.
One of those four – a police officer, who was critically hurt – had a lengthy recovery ahead of him, police said over the weekend.
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