The Auckland gunman’s violent past has been laid bare as it’s revealed he was sacked by his construction company employer just a day before his terrifying rampage.
Matu Tangi Matua Reid, 24, was found dead in the lift shaft of a building in Commercial Bay, in downtown Auckland, after exchanging fire with police early on Thursday morning.
Reid was being monitored by correction services via an ankle monitor when he stormed the high-rise building armed with a pump-action shotgun.
The builder had been fired the day before the shooting, with his two victims – aged in their 40s – having worked alongside the 24-year-old at the construction site.
New Zealand’s Police Commissioner Andrew Coster told TVNZ’s Breakfast said the horror rampage may have been influenced by ‘workplace tension’.
The revelations come as horrifying footage emerges of the moment a team of specialist police prepare to confront the shooter – including one officer who leads the pack wearing grey sweatpants and a baseball cap.
Up to 10 officers wearing bullet-proof vests and black helmets are seen scoping out what appears to be a empty bar underneath the Commercial Bay tower after receiving reports of a gunman on the loose.
Reid had been given special permission to attend the worksite as part of a home detention sentence he had been handed for committing a serious assault in 2021.
He was ordered to serve a five-month detention sentence after he slapped, kicked and strangled a woman he was in an intimate relationship with at the time.
Matu Tangi Matua Reid, aged 24, was shot dead by police after being discovered in the lift shaft of a building in downtown Auckland early on Thursday morning
The builder had been fired the day before the shooting, with his two victims – aged in their 40s – having worked alongside the 24-year-old at the construction site
In March, Reid admitted charges of impeding breathing, injuring with intent to injure, wilful damage and male assaults female, the NZ Herald reports.
The assault on September 16, 2021 left his partner with a fractured bone in her neck.
Sentencing notes from Judge Stephen Bonnar KC reveal that shortly before midnight Reid became angered by something his partner said, leading to a verbal altercation.
He then pushed the woman off a chair and threw at object at her head that struck and injured her right eye, before threatening to ‘take out’ her and her entire family.
Reid then kicked the woman, causing her to fall backwards onto the bed where he seized her throat and cut off her breathing for up to 10 seconds.
He continued to threaten his partner, telling her: ‘You don’t know what I’m capable of’ as he grabbed a pair of scissors and pushed the handles into her side.
The violent assault culminated in a final terrifying threat from Reid, who had been staying with his partner and her family in Auckland’s North Shore at the time.
‘I’ve had enough, it’s time, I’m going to take you all,’ he told the woman.
Investigators are working to determine the motive and cause of the shooting and how the alleged shooter had acquired a gun without a licence (pictured, police at the scene)
When the woman returned to her home with police later that night, she discovered Reid had set fire to a small wicker basket inside her bedroom.
Judge Bonnar notes the woman had sustained a fracture in one of the bones in her neck, a swollen and black eye as well as bruising and scratches.
Reid denied any wrongdoing when he was questioned by police, telling officers the woman’s injuries had been sustained during ‘rough sex’.
His criminal record shows a previous assault from 2020, which he was serving a community-based sentence for at the time of the incident.
Reid had previously been ordered to attend anger-management sessions.
A cultural report handed to the court revealed Reid had witnessed domestic violence and physical abuse from an early age, causing him to run away from home.
Judge Bonnar noted that sending Reid to jail could ‘set you down the wrong path’.
Instead, the 24-year-old was sentenced to five months home sentence to be served at a Flat Bush property, in Auckland’s southeast.
The conditions of the home detention sentence to attend a non-violence program, not use alcohol or drugs and not associate with the victim .
A probation officer had recommended home detention as a satisfactory sentence after deciding Reid had a low risk of reoffending.
Acting National Commissioner of Corrections Sean Mason said an internal review would be undertaken by the Chief Probation Officer.
New Zealand’s Police Commissioner Andrew Coster told TVNZ’s Breakfast said the horror rampage may have been influenced by ‘workplace tension’ (pictured, police at the scene)
An injured police officer is seen being escorted to a waiting ambulance. Seven people, including a cop remain in hospital on Friday for injuries sustained during the shooting
‘While our full review is yet to be undertaken, initial information suggests that Community Corrections staff managed his compliance with these conditions closely,’ Commissioner Mason said.
‘He was in frequent contact with staff, and was required to report in to his Probation Officer twice every 10 days. He had last reported in yesterday.’
Reid was an active participant in the court-ordered non-violence program and had completed the drugs and alcohol program, testing negative in two drug tests.
Commissioner Coster confirmed authorities had identified the two victims and were preparing to make contact with their families.
Investigators are working to determine the motive and cause of the shooting as well as how the alleged shooter had acquired a gun without a licence.
Seven people remain in hospital on Friday, including one male police officer.
