Wellington District Police Detective Inspector Haley Ryan provides an update on the inquiry to media. Photo: RNZ / Ashleigh McCaull
The two men shot at a Lower Hutt address in the early hours of Saturday morning - one fatally - were attending a birthday party at the time.
Police were called to the George Street, Stokes Valley property shortly after 2am and found two men with firearm-related injuries.
One man was dead at the scene and another had life-threatening injuries.
Police have now named the man as 39-year-old Rawiri Zane Wharerau who lived at the address.
His brother was also found at the scene, and had also suffered serious gunshot injuries. He was taken to hospital where he remains in a critical but stable condition.
Wellington District Police Detective Inspector Haley Ryan said when officers arrived at the scene, Rawiri was found lying at the front of his home surrounded by people trying to resuscitate him.
Ryan said police want to speak to everyone who attended the party, including members and associates of the Mangu Kaha gang.
Wharerau was a patched member of the gang, but this was "not a gang-related incident", she told a media briefing.
"This is a birthday celebration that's ended up in an argument or altercation that has spilled out onto the street. Not everyone at that party was a gang member."
She added: "Rawiri's whānau will spend the coming Christmas grieving the loss of one son as they hope for the recovery of their other son."
She said everyone who attended needed "to do the right thing and think of both victims, their friends, whānau and loved ones and speak with police sooner rather than later".
"Our team remains committed to locating the person or persons responsible for this violent incident and holding them to account, and we continue to appeal to the community for their help to do so."
Police did not believe there was an ongoing threat to the community.
"We're doing reassurance patrols, we've upped the number of staff in that area, just to provide that reassurance to the community."
Ryan repeated her appeal for anyone who had privately owned CCTV or dashcam footage within Stokes Valley and the Eastern Hutt Road area between 1am and 3am that day to make contact.
Anyone with any information was asked to contact police by phone on 105, or online, referencing file number 231216/6245.
"We have already received information that has been of assistance and thank those that have provided that to us."
