4 Nov 2008

Search for man in gun scare stood down

10:08 pm on 4 November 2008

The Armed Offenders Squad has been stood down in the search for a man in the eastern Hutt Hills near Wellington.

The manhunt began on Tuesday when residents called in police after seeing a man and woman with a gun and a 18-month-old old girl in the Lower Hutt suburb of Naenae.

The car was intercepted at Taita Cemetery, but the man was not in it. The female driver was arrested and the child taken into care.

The Armed Offenders Squad began looking for the man after a firearm and jacket were found at the cemetery.

Police have not yet found their suspect, and the search will resume on Wednesday morning.