A family feud may have led to the shooting of two men and the stabbing of another in a village in the central North Island yesterday.
The armed offenders squad was deployed after shots were fired from a car at the occupants of another car about 9.30am on Daniel Street at Kaingaroa, 50km southeast of Rotorua, police said.
Police yesterday afternoon interviewed two suspects found at a Taupo address and were today likely to decide whether to charge them.
Edwin Iraia, 21, was shot in the hand and Harmon MacPherson, 19, was shot in the shoulder.
The third man suffered knife wounds to his forearms after he became involved in the dispute.
Another AOS callout to the village in the last three months was thought to have been caused by the same feud.
In May a rifle was fired at a Daniel Street house and a man allegedly attacked another with a Maori war club.
Kaingaroa dairy owner Pamela Taitapanui, said both shootings were part of a "family feud" between two families.
"It's crazy, bloody crazy," she told the Dominion Post.
"Young people, they get out of control, and they take the law into their own hands."
All three injured men were taken to Rotorua Hospital.
