In the small coastal settlement of Aramoana, near Dunedin, an argument with a neighbour over a wandering child spiralled into one of the country's worst mass shootings. On the evening of 13 November 1990, David Gray took up a semi-automatic rifle and moved from house to house through the township, killing thirteen people, among them young children, and setting fire to the home of his first victim.
Sergeant Stewart Guthrie, the first armed officer to respond, tracked Gray through the darkness and ordered him to surrender. Gray called out, "Don't shoot!", leading the sergeant to believe he was giving himself up, then opened fire moments later and killed him instantly.
Police sealed off the township and spent the next day searching house by house before cornering Gray in a holiday home. On 14 November 1990, he burst outside firing from the hip, shouting "Kill me!", and was shot down by an elite police squad. He died a short time later in the ambulance taking him to hospital.
