A life-long gang member has told Duncan Garner he sets a bad example and needs to calm down after Tuesday's gang shooting in Whanganui.

During a prickly interview on The AM Show, Black Power member Denis O'Reilly claimed Garner was inflaming the situation with reports on what happened.

"Scumbag and low life are the sorts of stupid language that inflame these things, so you just mind your own mouth," O'Reilly said.

STUFF Police at the scene of a gang shooting in Whanganui which left one dead.

A young man had died and everyone needed to keep calm and keep safe, he said.

READ MORE:

* Killers still on the loose after Whanganui shooting

* Man shot dead in suspected gang shooting in Whanganui

"Trying to flame it up like you're doing is not helpful … what you're doing is setting a bad example mate, calm down."

Duncan Garner defended his right to call the shooters "scumbags and low lifes".

Police continue to hunt for the killers of a 27-year-old man shot dead by gang members on Puriri St in the Whanganui suburb of Tawhero.

The man - who is reported to have links to the Mongrel Mob - protected children and other guests in the home when members of a rival gang showed up on Tuesday morning, family said.

Police launched a homicide inquiry and believe more than one person had carried out the shooting and left in a car.

When Garner asked where the shooters could be, O'Reilly said "I'm not a clairvoyant".

He also told Garner it was "none of your business" when he asked if O'Reilly had heard from Black Power members in Whanganui.

"Let's stop politicising this thing, stop sensationalising it through the media, let's calm down, speak rationally, and realise that it's our kids and families are the most significant things in our lives."

O'Reilly called on all gang members to listen to their leaders and cooperate with police. He said gangs were "not always cooperative, but "we have good kōrero going on at the moment".

"Us men can go out and do our things, it could be in the field of battle or on the rugby field, and let that be as it may. But children, family homes, are sacrosanct," he said.

Any revenge, or utu, should occur through the process of law, he said.

He told Garner the public in Whanganui should feel safe and have "confidence in the New Zealand police".