The feud between the Killer Beez and the Tribesmen is fuelling the recent spike in gang-related violence, but the shared history of the feuding groups started in unusual fashion.
University of Canterbury’s director of criminal justice Jarrod Gilbert gave a breakdown on the history of the now warring gangs since the Killer Beez were formed 19 years ago.
“The Killer Beez started as a feeder group to Tribesmen, meaning that the Tribesman established them back in 2003 under the leadership of a guy named Josh Masters,” Gilbert said.
“The reason they did that was because the outlaw motorcycle scene, which the Tribesmen are, was on the decline, what was doing well was these LA-style street youth gangs and the Tribesmen recognised they so they started the Killer Beez to gain younger members coming through and gain influence.”
The forming of the Killer Beez was “a very smart move, right up to until the young cub couldn’t be trained any longer by the older lion and they clashed," Gilbert explained.
The clashes culminated in the public shooting of Killer Beez president and former Tribesmen member Masters in 2019 by former friend and Tribesmen sergeant-at-arms Okusitino Tae.
“The only thing that saved Josh Marsters that day was the firearm jammed or he would be dead now. He publicly forgave the guy who shot him but nevertheless the tensions between the two groups have always been significant.”
Gilbert wasn’t sure what had sparked the latest feud, which has resulted in more than 20 drive-by shootings in two weeks.
"We have seen serious gang violence like this before, no question, but why it seems so new and frightening now because it’s been some time since we’ve had it to this degree."
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Gilbert was confident firm police action would result in tensions eventually simmering down.
Last week police announced 19 gang members had been arrested after weeks of drive-by shootings and fires.
“We do know it does tend to spike up but with really firm police action targeting those two group specifically, it does die down again,” he said.
“When this tit-for-tat escalation of violence occurs, clearly a police response is absolutely necessary, so what the police do is they saturate the two gangs, re-investigate old offences, pull up people for even minor offences.
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“The pressure becomes such it’s put a firebreak in the tit-for-tat so it settles it down.
“It’s a really concerning time for the community, it’s not a comfortable time for the gangs either so we tend to see wiser heads prevail, often times it will be both groups sort of assaying we’ve had enough of the violence and enough of the police attention and so it naturally settles down.
“At least that’s what history tells us, there’s no reason to suggest it will be any different this time around.”
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