Friday March 15, 2019 - 1:41pm

Like the rest of the country, Christchurch was starting to wind down ahead of the weekend.

Video journalist George Heard had just arrived back from lunch when his news director asked him to drive to Deans Ave, in the suburb of Riccarton. Reports had been circulating of armed police in the area.

Reluctantly, Heard made his way to the area, not expecting much to come of the assignment. He had been chasing police with guns all week.

"I was getting quite sick of it," says Heard.

He arrived to find the traffic gridlocked so he parked his car outside a nearby hotel.

A police officer was blocking off access to Deans Ave so he walked down a little bit further. Nothing could have prepared him for the scenes he was to stumble upon.

"I saw an ambulance - there was a guy in the back of it. He had blood all over him."