Police investigating the shooting of a South Auckland liquor store co-owner have now upgraded their investigation to a murder hunt after the victim died early today.
Navtej Sing, 30-year-old co-owner of the Riverton Liquor Shop in Manurewa, was shot in the chest just after 9pm on Saturday.
He died at Middlemore Hospital shortly after midnight.
Detective Senior Sergeant Dave Pizzini said Mr Singh and the three offenders were the only people in the shop when he was shot but the other partner in the business was in and out of the store during the incident.
"The other co-owner was also threatened by these offenders before the victim was shot," he said.
The offenders escaped with alcohol and an amount of cash.
The shooting was the latest in several armed robberies in the Manurewa area using either guns or knives and Mr Pizzini said the 14-strong investigation team would be checking files of previous incidents to see if there might be any connection.
He said they were keen to hear from anyone who saw a dark coloured four door sedan heading from the shop on Riverton Drive in an easterly direction towards Porchester Road shortly after 9pm on Saturday.
Mr Pizzini said one of the men was about 183cm tall and the other two were shorter. All three were described as Maori or Polynesian, but it was harder to be sure of their ages.
"One of the shorter offenders was wearing a sweatshirt with distinctive white Maori-style writing on it." One of them was wearing a facial disguise and the other two were wearing hooded sweatshirts.
