Deadly shooting in Auckland, hours before World Cup opens in New Zealand city
AUCKLAND, New Zealand — The World Cup will begin as scheduled here Thursday night after a shooting earlier in the day that left two people dead and five others, including a police officer, injured steps from FIFA's Fan Festival.
The male shooter, a 24-year-old who is believed to have worked at the building where the shooting took place, is dead, and police have determined there's no threat to national security.
"Clearly with the FIFA World Cup kicking off this evening, there are a lot of eyes on Auckland. The tournament will proceed as planned. I want to reiterate there is no wider national security threat. This appears to be the actions of one individual," New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said during a news conference in the capital of Wellington.
"The police have neutralized the threat and are not seeking anybody else. New Zealand’s safety, and the safety of our visitors, is our first priority."
The police officer who was shot was initially hospitalized in critical condition, but New Zealand Police Commissioner Andrew Coster said Thursday afternoon he is now stable. The other four injured have moderate to more serious injuries, Coster said.
Eight teams, including the U.S. women, are based in Auckland for the group stage and most are staying at hotels close to where the shooting occurred. U.S. Soccer said its 23 players and team staff were "accounted for and safe," and the federation expressed condolences for the shooting victims.
"We are saddened by the inexcusable loss of life to gun violence, and our thoughts are with the people of" Auckland and New Zealand, U.S. Soccer said in a statement on Twitter.
Vice President Kamala Harris' husband, Douglas Emhoff, is leading the official U.S. delegation to the World Cup and was already in Auckland on Thursday.
"On behalf of the United States, our thoughts are with those impacted by the tragic events in Auckland this morning," Emhoff said on Twitter. He later attended the USWNT's training session.
There were to be moments of silence before both openers Thursday night. New Zealand plays Norway at Auckland's Eden Park while Australia plays Ireland at the Olympic Stadium in Sydney. The USWNT opens the tournament at Eden Park on Saturday.
Hipkins called FIFA president Gianni Infantino to assure him there were no safety issues surrounding the tournament, and Infantino later met with New Zealand's sports minister, Grant Robertson.
The Fan Fest, which was scheduled to open at noon, was closed Thursday. No surprise, given it's located at The Cloud, which is on the waterfront a few hundred feet from where the shooting happened. The area was closed off to traffic and pedestrians for most of the day.
"Obviously that's up to the police as they reduce the cordon," Robertson said earlier in the day.
According to the statement from Coster, police received multiple calls at 7:22 a.m. about a person discharging a firearm on the third floor of the building, which is on a plaza in the city's central business district. The gunman had a pump-action shotgun, Hipkins said, and fired it several times as he made his way upstairs in the building. The bodies of the two people killed were found on the lower levels of the building.
When the gunman reached the upper levels of the building, he barricaded himself in an elevator shaft. Police found him there at 8 a.m., Coster said.
"Shots were exchanged, and the offender was later located deceased," Coster said.
Hipkins said police had determined there was no ideological or political motivation to the shooting. An investigation is ongoing, Coster said.
"I want to acknowledge this has been a shocking and traumatic event for those people who came to work and found themselves in the middle of an armed emergency," Coster said. "Thankfully many people were able to escape the building, but I know that for those who hid or remained trapped in the building, this was a terrifying experience."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Auckland shooting leaves at least 3 dead hours before World Cup opens
