Suspect on the run after New Zealand police officer killed

A police officer has been killed and a second injured after being shot in New Zealand.

Police in Auckland said the officers pulled over a car on Friday morning when a person began firing at them before driving away.

The force said the suspect’s vehicle hit a bystander, who was injured, and the second officer has serious injuries.

Police commissioner Andrew Coster said: “This is a shocking situation, this is the worst news police and their families can receive.”

He added there was nothing to indicate anything was out of the ordinary when the car was pulled over.

He said the officers were not carrying guns, and New Zealand police do not routinely carry guns but typically have them available in the boot of their vehicles.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the news was devastating.

“To lose a police officer is to lose someone working for all of us, but also a family member, someone’s loved one and friend,” she said in a statement.

Schools in the area have been put into lockdown and police have set up road cordons and have advised people to stay away.

Witness Elaine Taniela told The New Zealand Herald she was at home when she heard gunshots.

She said a friend who was on his way to her house at the time described seeing an officer on the ground shaking, as if he was having a seizure.

Last year New Zealand enacted new gun control laws banning the deadliest types of semiautomatic weapons after a mass shooting in which a gunman killed 51 people at two Christchurch mosques during Friday prayers.