Auckland mayor Phil Goff is hitting out at gang members saying it is a miracle a child hasn't been killed amid a spate of shootings and violence over territory.
Multiple houses have been shot at in the past month amid a tit-for-tat gang war between the Killer Beez and the Tribesmen.
The shootings are causing concern for locals who are worried about being caught in the crossfire.
Speaking with AM's Melissa Chan-Green on Monday, Phil Goff said it's a miracle no one has been.
"Most New Zealanders probably don't worry so much about gang members firing shots at each other, [but] they do worry a lot about being caught in the crossfire.
"And frankly, because of this reckless, stupid and cowardly behaviour, it's actually a miracle we haven't seen kids killed.
"We have in the past, we don't want to see it in the future. That's why the police are doing exactly the right thing in clamping down on this sort of intergang rivalry."
Goff said part of what makes the shootings so dangerous is they are targeting private homes, not gang pads.
"There are kids living in those houses and sometimes the gangs are not that smart, they get the house wrong and they are shooting at innocent people."
It's a view shared by sociologist and gang researcher Dr Jarrod Gilbert who told Chan-Green the fact gang members are targeting private homes shows the violence is getting out of hand.
"I think we need to distinguish that the bullets that are being fired now aren't necessarily going into gang pads, they are going into homes where gang members live," Gilbert said on Monday.
"The gang pad is a communal home or property where the gang will come and have meetings and parties and the like. [But] these are private homes…it used to be, and it was often broken but certainly not as broken as now, it used to be a rule that you didn't hit private homes and you didn't hit places of work.
"Those rules are clearly out the window… and that just goes to show how serious the tit for tat violence between the two groups has become."
Gilbert said the escalation of violence has to be stopped so innocent residents aren't caught up in the crossfire.
It comes after a spate of shootings in the Auckland area over the past week. On Sunday a house was shot at and left riddled with bullet holes in south Auckland. Additionally, on Saturday, three people were injured after an incident in south Auckland.
Police found one person had been shot in the thigh and another two people had head injuries.
On Wednesday night, there were two shootings - the first was in Vina Place in Massey and the second in the eastern suburb of Mellons Bay on Bleakhouse Road.
On Tuesday night, police said the Killer Beez and Tribesmen gangs were behind seven shootings in Ōtara, Papatoetoe, Flat Bush, Papakura, Te Atatū, Henderson and Mt Albert.
