Dramatic video emerges of efforts to save gunman's life as police boss says officers used the "appropriate" tactical options by shooting the man.

A woman attempted to talk down an armed man before he was fatally shot by police outside McDonald's in Upper Hutt.

The gunman was killed on Tuesday afternoon after earlier firing a high-powered rifle inside the restaurant, in Main St.

Dramatic video shows police officers gathered round the man immediately after the shooting, trying to save his life as he lay on the ground.

1 of 3 KEVIN STENT/ FAIRFAX NZ A tent was moved on to Wakefield St in Upper Hutt on Tuesday night, where the body of the gunman was still at the scene. 2 of 3 JARED NICOLL A bullet shattered the window of this car sitting inside a police cordon outside McDonald's in Upper Hutt on September 8. The owner was concerned about how she would pick up her daughter this afternoon from Plateau School. 3 of 3 SUPPLIED A photo sent in by a witness shows a man, believed to be gunman Pera Smiler, who has reportedly been shot and killed by police in Upper Hutt.

Skynet City Shop owner Tony Loveday said one of his staff members tried to reason with the man moments before he was shot.

"I was just having lunch at Subway and a staff member phoned me to say an armed man was outside the City Stop store. I got up and tried to leave and saw him out in the street waving a rifle in the air and shouting at police.

"I told him to lock the shop and be prepared to get out the back exit.

"He said there was another staff member outside talking to the gunman, so I called her. She felt he was ready to give it up.

"While this was all happening, while I was talking to her, he was shot.

"I heard her crying. As you can imagine, she was pretty distressed."

She was within metres from the gunman when he was shot, Loveday said.

"He had apparently applied to be in the army, but was rejected because of his criminal history.

"He was about to put the gun down but then he was shot. They were doing resuscitation right outside the shop.

"It was quite the drama."

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Loveday said the female staff member had experience of dealing with inmates preparing to leave Rimutaka Prison.

"She had quite a good rapport with the guy and she felt she was reasonably equipped to talk him down."

Upper Hutt mother Stacey Atkinson was having lunch in McDonald's with her newborn son and 2-year-old daughter when she heard the gunman open fire, just metres away from her.

Two seats down from the family sat a "dodgy looking" man dressed in black, sitting not eating, with a tennis racket bag by his side. After about 20 minutes, he stood up, and disappeared around the corner of the cafe counter.

Atkinson said she heard him say: "Everybody get out," before there was loud bang.

"I could see the barista throw her hands up in the air and run out."

At first, Atkinson said she thought the coffee machine had exploded, but soon terrified and screaming patrons started streaming around the corner, making for the door.

"It wasn't until I was half way out that someone said, 'He's got a rifle' and I was like in panic."

Atkinson and her children hid with about a dozen other McDonald's customers and staff in the examination rooms of the Visique optometrist next door, while the police negotiated with the gunman.

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The gunman before he was shot and killed by police. SUPPLIED

TASER COULD NOT BE USED

At a press conference outside Upper Hutt police station, Wellington district commander Superintendent Sam Hoyle said the man had fired at least once inside McDonald's before he was shot outside by frontline police officers, not armed offenders squad members.

The shooting had been referred to the Independent Police Conduct Authority, which has confirmed it will be investigating.

Hoyle said police were called at 12.40pm and, when officers arrived, they "were fired upon".

"They have spoken with the man involved and attempted a peaceful resolution with him; after some minutes, he has been shot by police."

Hoyle would not confirm any details about the gunman, including whether he had a criminal history, or his motivation for the incident.



Police could not use non-lethal options, such as a Taser, because the man was firing a "high-powered rifle" in a crowded CBD in the middle of the day, he said. "The tactical options they used were the appropriate ones."

The man was speaking to police and members of the public shortly before he was shot. Hoyle would not say how many times the man was shot.

Wellington Free Ambulance paramedics tried to resuscitate the man, but were unsuccessful.

McDonald's confirmed none of its staff or customers were injured.

There are reports a man was arrested after trying to get inside the mall to get to his child, who was in McDonald's.

'HE WENT DOWN'

John Philipson told how he came face-to-face with the gunman in McDonald's and later watched police shoot him dead in the street.

"I was waiting for our group to arrive and then I heard this bang. I thought it was a firecracker. It was a real resonant bang and then people started to jump up and down.

"So I got up and I was about to remonstrate with this bloke and one of the guys there said, 'Come on, he means business. Let's go'.

"His eyes gave it all away. He did really mean business."

The man fired his rifle a couple of times.

"He was just generally I guess trying to frighten people more than anything else, I guess. Then he said to me, 'You're all right, on your way'."

About a dozen people were inside and trying to flee, he said.

"There was one lady in a wheelchair and she sort of held up proceedings a little bit, but ultimately we got out."

Philipson said a group of those who escaped went to the other side of the road and watched events unfold.

"He stood out there in the middle of the road there with his rifle ... One of the police with a dog came at him and he had a shot at the dog."

The police dog managed to reach the man and bit onto his leg, Philipson said.

As the man tried to fire at the dog, police fired a single shot at him, which brought him to the ground. "He went down."

Jolly Jacob said she thought the gunman was playing a prank, until he fired a shot.

"When I looked there was this guy dressed in dark clothes pointing a gun and shouting. At first I thought it was some kind of prank or film shooting. Then he fired a shot on the direction of Mitre 10. The big burly guys beside me took to flight."

Jacob and her mother hid down the street.

"The guy was shouting, incoherently. He then crossed the street and headed into the Mall. That was frightening because there are so many more people inside the Mall and little place to run."

The man ran out of the mall and ran in to McDonald's, then ran out again and fired another shot, she said.

"He was shouting a lot, trying to dare someone to come and get him."

She hid in a store, and the next time she saw him, he was "lying face down in blood struggling" against police.

"As I was leaving I saw the police were giving him CPR. Then they took our details and a brief statement. A little while later I heard he was dead."

Police Association president Greg O'Connor said the incident was the fifth time in a month in which frontline police had had to deal with "armed and clearly dangerous offenders".

"Constant reassurances by police administration and Government that nothing has changed in the criminal world are clearly out of touch. These incidents take place at a time when the numbers of frontline police deployable to such incidents are being reduced due to funding issues.



"The Police Association on behalf of its members asks how many such incidents it will take before the changing nature of the policing environment is acknowledged by authorities."