A Nelson father at the centre of a shooting incident near Nelson was once a notorious criminal who escaped prison and avoided being caught for almost a decade.
Ian Boyd, a 58-year-old engineer, critically injured his son Brendon Boyd, aged 37, when he shot him at close range at a family home in Tapawera on Thursday night. The incident sparked an armed offenders squad manhunt in the area around Tapawera, 58km south west of Nelson, about 11.20pm.
Ian Boyd was later discovered dead from self-inflicted gun shot wounds.
Police are still piecing together the events which led up to his death.
Brendon Boyd, who was visiting from Christchurch, suffered a shotgun wound to his upper chest and remains in Wellington Hospital.
Thursday's incident was not the first time Ian Boyd had been on the wrong side of the law and in his earlier days he had been involved in a number of serious crimes including firing a gun at police and escaping prison, The Timaru Herald reported.
While living on the West Coast Mr Boyd on a police officer when he was stopped in Murchison after taking his young child from its mother.
In 1985 a Timaru High Court jury found him guilty instructing someone to place a home-made bomb outside an Oamaru house as retribution for the theft of some cannabis. He was sentenced to five years prison.
In 1986 he escaped prison and was not caught again until 1994 when he was extradited from Brisbane and ordered to serve out his term.
A former friend of Mr Boyd said he was a "likable villain" and was mystified by the events that led up to his death.
Detective John Nicholls of Motueka police earlier told the Nelson Mail last Thursday's tragedy unfolded after father and son had a fight on the roadside. The son had a tooth broken when he was punched in the face, police said.
He then left to go to another family member's house in the nearby Tadmor Valley.
Boyd turned up about 15 minutes later and confronted and then shot his son.
He was lucky to be alive, Mr Nicholls said.
"Not too many people who get shot point blank with a 12-gauge shotgun survive. He's a very, very lucky man."
A number of people in the house at the time saw the shooting, he said.
