Man jailed after shooting Dunedin officer, three others

Rhys Richard Ngahiwi Warren. Photo: NZ Herald
Rhys Richard Ngahiwi Warren. Photo: NZ Herald
The man who shot four police officers during a dramatic gunfight in the Bay of Plenty has today been jailed.

Sixteen months after Rhys Warren barricaded himself inside his grandmother's property near Kawerau and shot at police during a 22-hour stand-off he faced his penalty at the High Court in Tauranga today.

Among the officers was Constable Regan Mauheni - now a Dunedin police dog handler - who sustained serious head injuries when a shot fired by Warren's .308 ricocheted off his fellow officer's firearm.

Rhys Richard Ngahiwi Warren faced two charges of attempted murder, three of using a firearm against a law enforcement officer and one of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

Constable Regan Mauheni
Constable Regan Mauheni
He was sentenced to preventive detention when he appeared for sentence at the High Court in Tauranga.

Warren injured four police officers as they surrounded and approached him at the Onepu Springs Rd property.

Eventually, Warren was coerced into giving himself up after talking with Inspector Warwick Morehu, who knew Warren's family from him time stationed at Kawerau.

The siege began about 10am on March 9, 2016, after a police plane circled above Onepu Springs Rd as part of a routine cannabis search. Shots were reportedly fired near the plane, sparking a response from the Armed Offenders Squads from Tauranga and Rotorua to the properties below.

When no one answered the phone, reacted to the loudhailer or rocks thrown on the roof, armed police approached the house. Warren responded with bullets.

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