Police negotiators are speaking with an armed man at a Lower Hutt home. Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
Police have arrested a man following an hours-long standoff that saw schools locked down and roads closed.
The incident, at an address on High Street in Lower Hutt, began about 9.30am Tuesday after police received a report of a man with a gun at a home with three other people inside.
The other three people left the address unharmed about an hour later and the Armed Offenders Squad and Police Negotiation Team "remained engaged" with the man over the course of the day, police said.
Officers entered the home and arrested the man just before 8pm.
Neighbours said they threw smoke bombs through the windows before going inside. They emerged with the man in handcuffs shortly afterwards and led him to a police car.
The 25-year-old would appear in Hutt Valley District Court on Wednesday facing charges in relation to the incident, police said.
Schools around Taitā, including Avalon Intermediate School, Naenae College and Naenae Intermediate, were locked down during the incident, but those lockdowns had since been lifted.
No threats were made against schools.
Police negotiators are speaking with an armed man at a Lower Hutt home. Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
Earlier, Rhys Peneha came to pick up his friend's child from a school in Taitā after hearing it was put into lockdown.
"We heard sirens this morning and then heard all the schools were on lockdown, so we came to pick up her son. Then seen all the cops with guns so we thought we need to get here. And then the police officer told us someone's been agitated, running round with a gun or something."
He said he had a lot of friends whose children went to schools affected by the police operation so it had been a scary morning.
Local YG Tray said he saw police run after a man outside his house.
"We seen the bro jump the fence and then the bro put his hands up like, you know, he wasn't going anywhere, like he was waving a white flag. But then he ended up sprinting down that driveway all the way down to the end so we thought he was going to pop outside the other way but they (the police) already blocked that out."
Members of the Armed Offenders Squad were on the scene. Photo: RNZ/Angus Dreaver
Tray said the man was not holding a weapon when he saw him.
Taitā resident Josh Bryant said police had told him not to leave his home until the stand-off was over.
He said the police presence in the suburb had been huge.
A helicopter could on Tuesday morning be heard flying overhead in Avalon.
Businesses near the cordon earlier said police had not explained what was happening but officers were on the road holding guns.
Photo: RNZ/Angus Dreaver
One shop worker said traffic was being turned around and rerouted to avoid the scene.
The road reopened just before 9pm.
Inspector Nick Thom thanked the community for "bearing with us today".
He said the situation could have had a very different outcome.
"Thanks to your support, we were able to respond with the patience required to resolve this incident safely.
"Police recognise how unsettling this has been - particularly for the younger members of our community and their parents when schools went into lockdown. Local Police staff will be out in the community in the next days offering reassurance to those affected."
