Aramoana rampage

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The Aramoana rampage in New Zealand took place on November 13-14 , 1990 in the small coastal settlement of Aramoana , on Otago Harbor . The local David Malcolm Gray (born November 20, 1956 , † November 14, 1990 ) killed 13 people with an assault rifle before he died the next day in a battle with a special unit . It was the deadliest shooting in New Zealand's history until the terrorist attack on two mosques in Christchurch in 2019 and led to a change in gun laws in that country.

Sequence of events

November 13th

The rampage began on Tuesday, November 13, 1990 around 8:00 p.m. at 27 Muri Street when Gray got into an argument with his 38-year-old neighbor Garry Holden. The point was that Holden's children were running over his property and this was not the first time. In the course of the argument, Holden entered Gray's property and threatened him.

He went back to his house, got a 5.56 mm Norinco AK assault rifle (Chinese, semi-automatic replica of an AK-74 ) with a telescopic sight and killed Holden with several shots. Then he went to Holden's house, shot his 11-year-old daughter Jasmine and her 11-year-old friend Rewa Bryson. Holden's second daughter, 9-year-old Chiquita, was shot and injured but managed to alert a friend who was next door, who notified the rescue workers.

Meanwhile, Gray had set the Holden home on fire and went outside, where he shot and killed Vanessa Percy, 26, who had run into the street to look over the noise.

He then killed her two sons, 6-year-old Leo Wilson and 5-year-old Dion Percy, as well as her 42-year-old husband Ross Percy. 3-year-old Stacey Percy was seriously injured by a shot in the stomach and became an orphan . Immediately afterwards, the perpetrator shot 41-year-old Aleki Tali on the street and broke into a house, where he shot the 69-year-old Tim Jamieson and 70-year-old Victor Crimp.

Shortly after, 45-year-old James Dickson and 61-year-old Chris Cole were gunned down and killed. The arriving police could not find Gray immediately and suspected him in his house, which was then surrounded. Sergeant Stewart Guthrie, 41, combed the tall grass at the back of the house and found the culprit. He pretended to surrender, but suddenly fled into the tall grass. While trying to pursue the fugitive, Sergeant Guthrie was shot dead from ambush.

As night fell and nobody knew where Gray was now, the local police and the Armed Offenders Squad (AOS), which had arrived in the meantime, limited themselves to cordoning off the village and waited for the next day.

14th November

In the early hours of the morning, a police helicopter managed to locate the perpetrator; but he had to turn away when the latter opened fire. The special unit began to advance into the place and was able to surround Gray in a small house. After a two-and-a-half minute exchange of fire, he was finally forced outside by tear gas , opening fire on the officers and injuring one of them. These returned the fire and hit Gray five times in the head and chest. Even so, he was only overwhelmed after a scuffle and died shortly afterwards of his injuries.

After the rampage

Memorial in Aramoana; On the column in the middle are the names of the victims

The shooting rampage in Aramoana was the most fatally killed shootout in New Zealand's history , up to the attack on two mosques in Christchurch in 2019 . 14 people died and three were injured. As a result of this event, the gun licenses issued by all New Zealand citizens were withdrawn in 1992. Every gun owner must now keep a photo in the gun license, which is then only valid for ten years instead of for life as before. The costs for the gun license were also increased and the examination more difficult. In addition, hinged are visors , rifle scopes , bayonet attachments , detached pistol grips and muzzle flash suppressors been banned for semi-automatic rifles. Magazines containing more than 15 cartridges may no longer be used for rifles in .22 lfB caliber. For all larger calibers, a magazine that holds more than 7 cartridges may no longer be used.

It was also the only time in the history of New Zealand that the military Special Forces New Zealand Special Air Service (SAS NZ), was transferred to a domestic incident on alert. Three days after the rampage, the perpetrator's house was burned down by strangers. Sergeant Stewart Graeme Guthrie was posthumously awarded the highest civilian honor of the Commonwealth of Nations , the George Cross, on February 18, 1992 . Director Robert Sarkies filmed the rampage in Out of the Blue - 22 hours of fear .

literature

  • Bill O'Brien: Aramoana: Twenty-two Hours of Terror . Penguin Books (NZ), 1991, ISBN 0-14-016819-2 (English).
  • Paul Bensemann: Tragedy at Aramoana . Cape Catley, 1991, ISBN 0-908561-32-6 (English).

Web links

  • Philip Matthews: The spirit of Aramoana. Listener October 17, 2006, archived from the original on November 5, 2007 ; accessed on August 6, 2014 (English, original website no longer available).