A senior member of the Tribesmen gang has been shot and critically wounded during Rugby League World Cup celebrations in Ōtara on Monday night.
It's reignited fears of gang tensions in Auckland, which earlier this year led to several drive-by shootings with near-fatal consequences.
The day started on a high, with league fans celebrating Samoa's win over arch-rivals Tonga.
But chaos soon ensued when a senior Tribesmen member was shot. Detectives on Tuesday were at the scene.
Manukau councillor Alf Filipaina told Newshub the scene of jubilation was to celebrate the win until things took an awful turn.
"And then we had this, and that's the concern."
Over the years the streets in Filipaina's ward have been a battleground for boiling gang tensions. There have been deaths, drive-bys and near-misses.
He now desperately hopes the latest incident doesn't result in a repeat.
"It's for the groups to end up saying: 'hey, it doesn't need [to] escalate, it doesn't need to end up getting to a point where there's going to be retaliation backwards and forwards'."
Recent tensions have been highlighted by tit-for-tat shootings between the Tribesmen and their former feeder gang the Killer Beez, though it's unclear what caused last night's hit.
The senior gang member remains critically injured in Middlemore Hospital.
"That's the concern. Someone gets seriously hurt or killed."
And the shooting wasn't the only serious incident of the night. On Robertson Rd in Mangere, a person riding on the bonnet of a car was seriously injured after she fell off and became trapped underneath the vehicle.
Late on Tuesday afternoon police urged league fans to keep the peace.
"Show your pride safely and respectfully," a spokesperson said in a statement.
