A teenager who sparked a manhunt in Whangaparoa has been detained by police and is being assessed by mental health services.
Whangaparaoa College and Whangaparaoa Primary School near Auckland went into lockdown down after being told of the incident and police were on site earlier today.
The 18-year-old man was believed to be suffering from a mental health condition and possibly carrying a knife, but he was not armed when officers detained him, Waitemata police said.
Police launched a search for the man about 11.30am. Officers found him on Red Beach Rd near the Mobil station at 12.55pm and he was detained without incident.
"The situation was well-controlled by all of the schools involved, who followed our instructions and took sensible precautions to keep the students safe whilst we continued the search," Rodney police area commander Inspector Mark Fergus said.
Whangaparaoa College acting principal Robyn Brownlee said the school was put in lockdown about midday.
Officers were on site at the school and students were bundled into the nearest classrooms, she said.
"All staff and students all responded really positively," she said.
Police informed the school the threat was "contained" about 1.05pm and classes had resumed.
Several other schools in the area went into voluntary lockdown.
Caution over social media
Insp Fergus said during today's incident there was a lot of commentary on social media.
"Social media can be fantastic, but during an event like this we encourage members of the community to head to mainstream media, the police website or the Waitemata Police twitter feed, so they can keep up with any updates and get the correct information," he said.
"We'd like to thank the many members of the community who helped us this morning by remaining calm, following instructions and allowing us to do our job."
