Support is flooding in for the heartbroken families of a slain Australian tourist and his fiancé.
A 23-year-old Hamilton man has been charged with murder, aggravated robbery and threatening to kill over the shooting of 33-year-old Sean McKinnon in his campervan last week.
Raglan Ward Councillor Lisa Thomson says stunned locals want to help.
"I think that's really important, to be able to do that, to turn that around and just try and share love with those families."
McKinnon's family say they do not know how they'll move forward, and are still processing his death.
"He was very well-loved, he was a real character, and we just don't know how to put life together without him being here," his sister Emmeline told reporters on Saturday, after the accused appeared in Hamilton District Court.
Thomson says everyone's thoughts are with the victims' loved ones.
"Our community is really generous and loving, and there will be lots and lots of offers coming out of the woodwork - and no doubt there are other things you don't even see happening in the background."
She says a local artist has made a special bag for locals to place their messages for the families.
"People can come into the shop and put in messages of whatever they'd like to say to the young woman and her family, and his family as well."
She expects there will be many offers of help in the coming days.
"We know this was an alarming incident that shocked people right across New Zealand and overseas,” Det Insp Graham Pitkethley said on Saturday.
A flatmate of the accused told Stuff on Saturday he hadn't been around the past few days.
"I couldn't get hold of him ... I was hoping it wasn't him. I feel like I failed, really. That's how I feel."
New Zealand's homicide rate has been trending downwards over the last few decades, hitting a 40-year low in 2018.
No one else is being sought in relation to McKinnon's death, but police are yet to locate the weapon.
Newshub.
