Armed police respond to Lower Hutt incident

6:53 pm on 13 January 2019

Police have made no arrests following an incident in Stokes Valley which social media users say involved guns, machetes and patched gang members.

Police generic

Photo: RNZ / Richard Tindiller

The police were called to attend a disorder incident in the Lower Hutt suburb at about 3.45pm.

Armed police attended the scene, and officers were searching houses in the George Street area to find the people involved.

Police said they are no longer searching for people and there are no reports of injuries.

The cordon that was in place has now been lifted, but there will be a police presence in the area overnight and enquiries are ongoing.

One person on social media said it was a huge group fighting in Delaney Park, which involved shotguns and machetes and that children were in the park at the time.

There have been two gang-related shootings in the suburb in the last few months, but the police would not confirm if this latest incident was also gang-related.

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