Police have lifted cordons in west Auckland after reports of a shot being fired sent nearby schools into lockdown.
There's no information if the gunman has been arrested.
Witnesses say the incident began after a man walked up to another man's house, started shouting, then pulled out a shotgun. A shot was reportedly fired before he locked himself inside a house and refused to come out.
The armed offenders squad (AOS) was deployed to deal with the threat, and armed police attempted to negotiate with the man.
"You can hear the AOS over a loudhailer saying 'this is your last chance to give yourself up'," a nearby worker told NZME.
Police say the level of their response was both precautionary and standard procedure.
"Police are continuing to look into the exact circumstances of the incident and we are following strong lines of enquiry," says Area Commander Inspector Stefan Sagar.
"We would like to remind the community that we take these sorts of incidents seriously and will respond accordingly."
Police are continuing to investigate.
Cordons were put in place on West Coast Rd and nearby education centres were placed in lockdown.
Police now say the lockdowns have been lifted and cordons have been removed.
"Police have now lifted cordons near an address on West Coast Road following an earlier report of a shot being fired in the area," a police spokesperson says.
"Police are following strong lines of enquiry in relation to the incident."
At around 1pm, heavily-suited police from the special tactics unit were seen moving in to the property the alleged gunman barricaded himself in.
A local resident passing by, Richard Ramage, told Magic Talk the man was locked in the house with a pistol.
"There was supposedly a guy with a shotgun but it turned out to be someone had shot at the neighbours with a pistol," he says.
"[There're] quite a lot of officers, at least 11 police cars, there's a couple of dog units and there's the armed offenders squad here as well."
Local man Orlando Lee told Newshub he could see at least 15 police cars, as well as ambulance and a helicopter hovering above the area.
"Everyone was just wondering what was going on," he said.
Another witness, John Harper, told Newshub he heard a window being smashed out at around 12:30pm.
Cordons were put in place on West Coast Rd and the Our Kids Early Learning Centre on Glendale Rd went into lockdown.
Glen Eden Primary School also went into lockdown, notifying parents via its website.
A section of West Coast Rd between Glendale Rd and Swan Hill Dr was closed for a period of time. Traffic built up as police redirected drivers away from the cordoned area.
Schools around the country have been on high alert since the mass shooting in Christchurch on March 15.
Newshub.
