A manhunt is underway after a 15-year-old girl was shot after a road rage incident on an Auckland motorway.
Police are working to piece together the events of the late-night incident which ended when the vehicle with its rear window shattered by a bullet pulled into a St Lukes petrol station, its occupants seeking refuge from a vehicle that had pursued it for kilometres.
Police released details of the vehicle of interest linked to the incident.
“It is a 2009 grey Mazda Axela NGL15,” Detective Senior Sergeant Martin Friend said. “Be cautious if they see this vehicle and call the police.”
“It is our priority to locate this vehicle.
“What we saw last night was an appalling display of violence of a road rage incident on the Southern Motorway.
”The victim in this case is a teenage girl,” he said.
The family was supporting the victim, Friend said.
At 9.50am the incident started on the Southern Motorway near Mt Wellington Highway and continued in a northern direction, until reaching St Lukes, Friend said.
”We are looking for anyone who saw the vehicle or witnessed subsequent shots fired.”
Essentially, the incident was “hard braking”, Friend said on the type of road rage. He said three shots were fired.
“There were family members inside the vehicle ... five persons inside,” Friend said.
Another person was moderately injured but not by gunshots.
Friend said he did not want to go into details about the victim’s injuries.
“We are unsure at this stage which direction the offending vehicle left in,” Friend said.
”Our priority is to support the victim in this matter and bring charges in this matter.”
Earlier Friend said the driver of the hatchback got into a dispute with those in the minivan while travelling towards Auckland city on the Southern Motorway around 9.50pm yesterday.
“The driver of the hatchback has taken exception to the minivan and has begun to drive in an aggressive manner,” said Friend.
Both cars continued onto the Northwestern Motorway and exited at the St Lukes Rd off-ramp.
A young woman sitting in the back of the van was shot near the intersection with Asquith Ave around 10pm.
“A firearm has been discharged towards the rear of the minivan. The offending hatchback has then fled the area.”
Details surrounding the mystery hatchback are scant with police not revealing which direction it fled in.
A Mt Albert resident living in a street near the Z petrol station where the shot-at vehicle pulled in for help said she heard a car screaming down Leslie Ave between 10.30pm and 10.45pm.
Another local reported seeing a group abandon a hatchback in their street before running off.
A police spokesperson said they have “no tolerance” for the disregard of others’ safety by the occupants of the hatchback.
“Police are appalled at the reckless violence exhibited towards innocent members of the public.”
The minivan stopped at a petrol station on Sandringham Rd and police were called. The teenager was taken to Auckland City Hospital where she is in a stable condition.
Asquith Ave, where the girl was shot, is more than 2km from the petrol station.
