Two people were killed and multiple injured in a shooting in Auckland, New Zealand, just hours ahead of the opening match of the Fifa Women’s World Cup match.
A gunman, 24, stormed into a high-rise construction site at 1 Queen Street in downtown Auckland on Thursday morning, around 7.20am local time.
The man, who is believed to be a construction worker at the site, entered the building armed with a pump-action shotgun and moved through the building, firing bullets. After reaching the upper levels, he contained himself within an elevator shaft, where he fired more shots before being found dead a short time later.
An officer was injured in the shooting, as well as four members of the public.
Security was boosted before the opening Women’s World Cup game after the shooting which took place near the hotel of the Norwegian team, who were scheduled to play in the opening match later on the same day.
Auckland has welcomed thousands of international players and tourists for the ninth Women’s World Cup which is being co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand.
On Thursday, New Zealand was taking on Norway in the opening.
Officials from Eden Park, where the game is being played after an opening ceremony for the tournament, encouraged fans to arrive at the stadium early.
“There will be an increased security presence within the precinct and across the venue. Additional traffic management measures are in place,” Eden Park said.
Several players took to social media to report they were safe.
“All seems calm, and we are preparing as normal for the match tonight,” Norway captain Maren Mjelde told Norwegian newspaper Verdens Gang during the police operation.
Italy and the US team’s training was delayed as players could not get out of their hotel.
A US Soccer spokesperson said the American players were just getting up for breakfast inside the hotel when the incident occurred.
“Our security sort of immediately liaised with the local authorities and Department of State. We determined immediately that everybody was safe and accounted for and from then on we just had to wait it out,” Aaron Heifetz told reporters.
Douglas Emhoff, the husband of US vice president Kamala Harris who is leading the presidential delegation to New Zealand for the opening ceremony of the World Cup, is safe, the US embassy said.
New Zealand players observe a moment of silence for the victims of a shooting attack in Auckland— (AP)
Prime minister Chris Hipkins said the soccer tournament would proceed as planned, adding the shooting appeared to be the actions of an individual and that police were not seeking anyone else in relation to the incident.
“There was no identified political or ideological motivation for the shooting and therefore no national security risk,” Mr Hipkins said during a televised media briefing.
There would be no change to New Zealand’s security threat level although there would be an increased police presence in the city, he said.
“Obviously we would prefer it not to have started in this way,” Mr Hipkins told journalists later in the day.
“It will be acknowledged what happened today at the opening ceremony. And I will be going, it is safe to go and we continue to encourage the whole community to get behind this,” he said.
Additional reporting by agencies.
