Man due in court today after police officer shot

A 28-year-old man is due in court today charged with trying to murder a south Auckland policeman in a dramatic shooting early yesterday.

Constable Jeremy Snow, 28, was shot three times, once in each leg and once in the elbow, as he and a colleague investigated a car with its hazard lights flashing in a Papatoetoe driveway about 4am.

He collapsed on the ground bleeding profusely after one of the bullets hit a major blood vessel in his leg.

His colleague backed off and called for help and within minutes armed police had rushed in and rescued Mr Snow and taken him to a waiting ambulance.

Later in the day a man was arrested and charged with the attempted murder of Mr Snow and was expected to appear in the Manukau District Court today.

Today Mr Snow was reported to be conscious and out of danger but was likely to be in hospital for some time.

Police were also expected to focus on four areas around Buckingham Crescent in Papatoetoe, looking for cartridges and other evidence.

Yesterday three weapons were found, a shotgun, a high-powered rifle and a pistol but police said it was still too soon to say which of the three weapons was used in the attack on Mr Snow.

Senior police officers praised colleagues, who rescued Mr Snow, as "brave and gutsy".

Doctors who treated Mr Snow said had he not been rescued so promptly, there was a good chance he would have bled to death.

Mr Snow's colleague had called for help at a neighbour's house after bashing on the door and warning the people inside to stay on the floor and not to go near the windows.

Neighbour Manpreet Singh was awoken by a breathless and upset Constable Robert Cato knocking at his door.

"He said `stay down and don't go near the windows'," Mr Singh told the New Zealand Herald.

The officer was worried the gunman might be listening to the police radio and used the telephone to call 111.

He told Mr Singh and his flatmates how upset he was at having to leave his partner behind.

Mr Snow was reported last night to be awake and talking and joking with people in Middlemore Hospital in the intensive care unit.

Assistant Police Commissioner Viv Rickard praised the rescue of Mr Snow.

"It is gutsy. We saw that in Napier [when police officer Len Snee was shot dead in May] and in other places throughout New Zealand in the last 12 months, and we have seen it again here today," he told NZPA.

Police Minister Judith Collins said there was an increasing disrespect for the law from a small sector of the community "who think it's fine to take pot shots at our officers".

"The police represent the rule of law in New Zealand," she told Radio New Zealand.

"They are not simply the individuals, they represent something much bigger than that, and I think it's absolutely important that we, in upholding the rule of law, acknowledge that and give them their due respect."