The former landlord of the Whangarei gunman has been left in shock by the fatal double-shooting at the property.
On Wednesday Quinn Patterson allegedly shot and killed Wendy Campbell and her daughter Natanya Campbell, while they were visiting the Mt Tiger Rd home on a property inspection, and shot and injured a man.
After a day-long stand-off with police, the house burned almost to the ground with Patterson still inside. Badly burnt remains, believed to be Patterson's, were recovered on Thursday evening.
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Alistair Newbold rented the property to Patterson eight years ago, and told Newshub the man had been a good tenant who stayed on with the property when it was sold in 2014.
"I was shocked, I was absolutely shocked. I never thought he would ever, ever go to that extent," he said.
"[When we met] I thought he was a level-headed person and that he needed a place to stay. He seemed to be okay when he moved in."
After the shooting, it was revealed Patterson had spent the past two weeks barricading his house up, gathering a stash of weapons, after learning he was to be evicted.
His best friend, Ross Thompson, told Newshub on Thursday Patterson had stockpiled shotguns, hand grenades, a rifle and several handguns.
It's all stunned Mr Newbold, who says Patterson kept to himself and they had a good relationship as landlord-tenant.
"The guy I knew three years ago, it would never have entered my mind to do this," Mr Newbold said.
"He sort of kept to himself, there were no real worries... I didn't think Quinn would ever go to those extremes."
Before news broke of the gunman's identity in the small Whangarei Heads community, Mr Newbold's mother-in-law tried to call Patterson to check he was okay, but only got an answerphone.
"He wasn't a bad guy, that's the problem. I was gobsmacked when it happened, when I realised it was him. It was out of the blue," Mr Newbold said.
Mr Thompson said Patterson had gathered his arsenal of weapons with fake names, buying them online. Police Association president Chris Cahill says a rampant black market is making it too easy for people to get firearms in the country.
"We're getting daily reports from our members of firearms in the hands of criminals, in the hands of people who shouldn't have them, or in circumstances that it's only a matter of lucky that serious incidents haven't happened," he told Newshub.
"It's no great surprise to us that a tragedy like this has happened, and our thoughts go out to the whānau and friends of the two victims.
"With the prevalence of firearms out there, things like this are bound to happen. We'll be interested to see what the inquiry uncovers."
Another former workmate of Patterson told Three's The Project the man was a "nice guy... but he planned to kill these people".
"He'd planned what he was gonna do. And they'd come on to his property and actually come in to his house and I think that's what set him off," workmate Trevor Thompson said.
He said he feared the landlord never told the property managers Patterson was a "loose cannon" - but wasn't sure whether they were even aware themselves.
Newshub.
