A resident on a property close to where ACT candidate Matt Yovich’s hoarding was shot multiple times last week says they understand two children were asleep at the end of a house closest to where the shots were fired.
The sign had been erected on the edge of a rural property just south of Northland’s Whangārei.
The resident – who did not want to be named – said people in nearby homes were woken by up to seven gunshots just before 2am on Monday.
They said people in the community were very keen to find out who fired the shots.
“It’s put everyone on edge. I mean, far out, what are people doing? That’s somebody’s property they’ve shot up. That’s beyond a step too far.”
The person said they saw the damage shortly before the sign was taken down following the shooting.
“These muppets did this with no regard. They couldn’t tell whether there was livestock or people nearby.
“It could of been a young fulla thinking it was funny, but there is a dozen-odd homes within 250 metres of where the sign was shot. At 2am and all you can hear is somebody emptying a shot gun? It puts the s…s up you.”
Earlier, Yovich told RNZ the owner of the property had asked for the sign to be removed.
“He sort of said, ‘Look, you really should come and take it down and get rid of it from outside our house because it is been shot at overnight.’
“When I got there, he’d actually already called the police and sorted all of that out, but there was apparently seven shots, they were saying, put through pretty much the silhouette of me, mainly through the head and body.”
Photographs showed half-a-dozen punctures in the sign and several shotgun casings on the ground.
Police confirmed they had received a report of wilful damage after the fact and were investigating.
rnz.co.nz