Police officials have praised the efforts of police officers after yesterday's fatal shooting in Auckland.
Speaking to Breakfast this morning, Police Minister Ginny Andersen said police acted with "tremendous bravery".
"To be able to go into a building where imminent danger was there I have no doubt that their actions saved lives yesterday."
The Police Minister said the officers acted with "tremendous bravery". (Source: Breakfast)
She said the police response was "absolutely amazing".
"We know that from a point in time a call was made to police and it was 11 minutes when we had police officers on site and four minutes after that we had armed defenders on site.
"It was instant and they had Eagle as well, so that's the police helicopter that had eyes over the building and that was a real asset during that whole operation."
'A ripple right across the organisation' - Coster
Police Commissioner Andrew Coster said yesterday's shooting has "sent a ripple right across the [police] organisation".
The Police Commissioner said the details won't be confirmed for a number of weeks. (Source: Breakfast)
He said police are thankful no officers were killed in the shooting but a "tough situation" for those who did lose their lives. Three people, including the gunman, were killed in the shooting.
"[There was] incredible bravery of all of our people who went into that building to try and make it safe."
Coster also said it's likely the Auckland gunman was shot in an exchange of fire with police yesterday.
He added that police won't be able to confirm this until all forensic evidence is gathered and examined, which will take "some weeks".
"We will only be able to confirm that with confidence once we've completed a scene examination that will include a post-mortem."
'I'm incredibly proud' - Police Assn president
Police Association president Chris Cahill told Breakfast he's "incredibly proud" of the officers on the front line yesterday.
"One of the interesting things with policing is you can graduate from the police college and the next week you're on the front line and you know, there could literally have been officers there yesterday that had a weeks service and they've got to get out there and take the action that you saw.
Chris Cahill says police showed great professionalism yesterday during Auckland's CBD shooting. (Source: Breakfast)
"I think you saw how the whole incident unfolded and how incredibly proud we should be of that professionalism right through the men and women we saw."
He said what's important now is to have a "good debrief" and ensure lessons are learnt.
"Also, it's important to make sure those people understand it's natural to have feelings and there'll be you know some mental stress."
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