DELIVERED
Whanganui acting mayor Jenny Duncan assured the community police to keep the gang tensions under control in the aftermath of the murder of Mongrel Mob member Kevin Ratana.
The police are full of the hunt for suspects in a gang-related murder in Whanganui when the acting mayor of the city reassures the shaken community.
Monstrel Mob member Kevin Ratana, 27, also known as "Kastro", was killed Tuesday morning in what is considered by a rival gang as an attack on a family home.
Whanganui detective inspector Ross McKay said on Tuesday that both Ratana and the group that shot him were known to the police.
STUFF
Mongrel Mob members gather in Puriri Street in Whanganui after a fatal gang shot.
However, the police have said very little about the investigation into murder cases and the ongoing manhunt.
Whanganui's acting mayor Jenny Duncan appealed to calm and offered reassurance and sympathy to a family and community that was going through a difficult time.
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DAVID UNWIN / STUFF
Kevin Ratana (27) was killed during a drive-by-shoot at an out-of-town house on Puriri St on Tuesday.
"I am kept informed of the developments by the police station commander and I am assured that there is no direct cause for concern for the general public," Duncan said in a statement.
The acting mayor said despite the concerns of the community that there was no indication that the overall situation was deteriorating.
"We have an increased police presence here and this is reassuring.
"[But] at present, our normally safe and positive community is dealing with an isolated incident. Our focus is on supporting the police during their investigation. "
In recent months there have been tensions in the area, when the new youth gang exacerbated the old rivalry between Black Power and Mongrel Mob, the mother of Ratana & # 39; s told stuff on Wednesday.
By the Wednesday most of the houses near the scene on Puriri St were empty, and at least one family was seen running away in a car full of things.
A resident who asked not to be mentioned said that a bright silence had fallen over the normally busy street since the shooting.
She said that despite a prominent presence of the gangs, the neighborhood was normally a safe and child-friendly place – surrounded by schools and kindergartens.
She still felt safe in the area and said since the shooting that the police had increased their presence.
The silence was interrupted briefly that afternoon, when Mongrel Mob members met for a haka and became an honorary guard for Ratana's body while being loaded into a hearse and driven out of the scene.
Lifelong Black Power member Denis O Reilly also added his voice to the call for calm in a The AM show interview the day after the deadly shooting.
O & # 39; Reilly asked the gang members on both sides to listen to their leaders and to cooperate with the police in this matter.
"Our men can go out and do our things, it can be on the battlefield or in the rugby field, and let it be as it can, but children, family homes, are sacred,"
Any revenge, or utu, should happen through the process of law, he said
– Stuff
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