A 29-year-old man is due in Gisborne District Court on Monday over the deadly mass brawl that resulted in two deaths and multiple injuries.
The man faces a charge of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
Over 100 people were involved in the fight that took place on Lytton Road in the Gisborne suburb of Elgin at 11:30pm on Saturday.
A homicide investigation was launched after two people were found dead at the scene.
The fight is believed to have broken out after two uninvited guests arrived at a 21st birthday party.
The altercation involved gang members but was not a rival gang conflict, police said.
Police and the Armed Offenders Squad arrived at the scene and broke up the fight.
Staff attempted to resuscitate two people who were later declared dead, while three others were taken to hospital with injuries.
One person was arrested at the scene and is helping police with their investigation.
Three people, aged 21, 30 and 45, were rushed to hospital after the fight. Appearing on AM on Monday, Police Minister Mark Mitchell said the three are still in critical condition.
"[It's] extremely difficult for the family and friends that were celebrating the 21st and are now mourning two members of their family that have passed away," Mitchell said.
Mitchell later clarified that he couldn't go into the details of who the victims were and added the police would share more information when they could.
He said the police response was "outstanding" and they did a great job getting the brawl under control.
"You can imagine for the police officers turning up it was complete chaos and they have gotten on top of that situation and controlled that situation quickly," Mitchell said.
Police will have a highly visible presence across Gisborne over the coming days, and extra patrols will be carried out to provide reassurance to the community. Additional police staff have also been called in to assist with that effort.
