Police have found the firearm believed to be involved in a shooting near Queens Park in Invercargill this morning.

A police spokesperson has confirmed a 52-year-old man was shot in the lower leg and taken to Invercargill Hospital for surgery.

Following the surgery, the man was in a stable condition, the spokesperson said.

While police were still actively looking for the offender, there was not thought to be any risk to the public, the spokesperson said.

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By 6pm, the police cordons at the intersection of Kelvin and Gala Streets and Thames and Kelvin Streets were taken down.

The firearm was found during a scene examination, and the relationship between victim and offender is yet to be made clear, the spokesperson said.

A Saturday morning running group in Invercargill heard two gun shots ring out before a 52-year-old male was taken to hospital with serious injuries.

Others in the group heard the shots as well, but at first thought they were more likely to have been a car backfiring.

However, the Armed Offenders Squad had been called out after reports of gunshots being heard at 9.15am near Queens Park. Nearby, Invercargill parkrun's Saturday event was about to start.

Event director Liz Henry said the day started in usual fashion but soon became a run that would go down in history for the group.

Less than 15 minutes in the weekly run Henry said they heard shots throughout the park.

Robyn Edie/Stuff Police investigating inside the cordon area late in the afternoon, on the corner of Earnslaw and Kelvin streets.

While most of the runners were well into the course through the park, the tail end of the pack were running were running along the Kelvin St side of the park, she said.

Several members of the group, including one who was a nurse, went into action and were the first responders on the scene.

The members provided assistance to the victim and phoned the police, Henry said.

The person who was shot was not a parkrunner, nor were they in the park when the incident happened.

"They were on the opposite side of the road to our park when the incident happened."

Henry did the best they could keep thing as normal as possible for the other runners and not cause alarm.

The children in the group were moved away from the area where the shooting happened to keep them safe, she said.

Henry had spoken to those members who had been involved in the response and said they had not been put off by the incident and were keen to get back next week and focus on beating their times.

"We are so proud of our parkrunners who provided first response."

Queens Park covers about 81 hectares of gardens near the city centre in Invercargill.

Police were still trying to locate the shooter by early afternoon.

Cordons had been set up at the intersection of Kelvin and Gala Streets and Thames and Kelvin Streets as police tried to establish what happened, a spokeswoman said.

There was no risk to the wider public, the spokeswoman said.

JOHN HAWKINS/STUFF Armed Offenders Squad members and police officers at the intersection of Thomson and Thames Streets.

St John Ambulance had been called about 9.10am and two ambulances went to the scene before the shot man was taken to Southland Hospital.

Tatsuya Fukuda, who was at the run, said: "I was just standing in the middle of the park, Queens Park. I really didn't see anything but ... we were just about to start the park run and we heard 'bang, bang' and then stopped."

They didn't know what had happened but someone later let them know. His wife, who was also involved in the event, had also heard the shots.

Gerry Forde was also running in the park in the morning when the shooting occurred but did not hear anything.

When he arrived at his home near Queens Park his wife told him she had received a call from their daughter asking to be picked up, Forde said.

His daughter was closer to where the incident took place on the Kelvin St side of the park and heard shots but did not see anything, he said.

She was quite shaken by the incident, Forde said.

John Hawkins/Stuff Looking south down Thomson Street where a heavy police presence is following a shooting in Invercargill.