Community leaders and residents are set to gather on Sunday – a week after tensions between the region’s rival gangs once again came to ahead.

The meeting, organised by Napier City Council, police and Minister of Police Stuart Nash, will be held at 3pm on Sunday at the Taradale town hall and aims to discuss how violence escalated and the way forward.

“The reality is the tensions are rising and we now need to work together to address it and actually resolve it,” Napier Mayor Kirsten Wise said. But the way forward will require a collective approach she says. One with Central Government, and police in the lead.

Police responded to McClutchie Road, Ruatoria, at 9.20am on Saturday following reports of shots fired between the occupants of two vehicles and a person at a residential address.

The second incident occurred on Gloucester Street in Taradale on Sunday around 1.15pm when a firearm was discharged during a fight involving 30 to 40 Black Power and Mongrel Mob members.

A 25-year-old man who received injuries to his head, face and torso from a single gunshot has since been discharged from hospital. He appeared in the Hastings District Court today, charged with possession of an offensive weapon in relation to Sunday’s incident.

Around 12.35pm yesterday Police responded to a report of patched Mongrel Mob members converging in central Wairoa.

Upon arrival officers conducted a vehicle search and recovered two unlawful firearms and ammunition.

Another 25-year-old man was arrested and is due to appear in Gisborne District Court today charged with two counts of unlawfully possessing a firearm, and one count of unlawfully possessing ammunition.

In a separate incident, a 25-year-old Black Power associate was arrested about 9pm yesterday after being stopped by Police.

A knife was recovered along with a small quantity of methamphetamine, and the man is due to appear in Napier District Court in the coming days charged with possession of an offensive weapon and drugs offences.

Detective Inspector Rob Jones said these incidents are further examples of gang members arming themselves unlawfully and putting the public and Police staff at risk.

The incidents have prompted a heightened police presence in Taradale and Ruatoria, with officers armed with Glock pistols as a precaution.

“We are concerned about the current situation and the potential for violence and threatening behaviour on our streets. Police will not tolerate people being put at risk, and we would like to sincerely thank those members of the public who have provided information or reported concerns, as this is helping Police respond and prevent further harm,” Detective Inspector Jones said.

Wise said: "It's very concerning that we've had an incident like this in our community, especially during the day time when there are families out and about with their children, so I can understand why our community is feeling on edge at the moment”.

Life Black Power member Denis O'Reilly questioned whether the “current strategy” is correct, saying the situation seems to have gotten worse, not better.

“We have lost that capacity at a community level so the only thing we are left with is a police-down sort of response, rather than a community development approach.

“We’re only left with the police and if a hammer is your only tool, then every problem looks like a nail,” O’Reilly said.

While he believes police are “quite right” to increase numbers, and understood why they are carrying firearms, O'Reilly said hyping the situation up causes people to think there is a “big Mongrel Mob and Black Power war going on across the country and in the days of social media this gets amplified”.

He said the incident in Taradale came out of the “blue - well maybe out of the red” and bares no semblance to anything that makes any sense whatsoever.

However, it indicated that long-established conventions created to avoid confrontation, including 2011 pledge, the Otatara Accord had “gone out the window”, seemingly caused by younger members who “don’t seem to be conscious of the ramifications of their behaviour”.

“These are not your traditional gang members. Just from my observation they don’t seem to be people who have had deprived lives or come out of boys homes and it’s like they’ve gotten excited by the social media hype.”

“Whereas, if you talk to some of these older mobsters and blacks who went through boys homes and jails and the gang wars of the 1980s, they know only too well how quickly this stuff can turn to tragedy and how very difficult it is to wind back,” O’Reilly said.

Flaxmere-ward councillor for the Hastings District Council, Henare O’Keefe said it was “abhorrent” and due process must take its course. But the “status quo is just not working”.

“The other side to that is ‘what is the long-term solution?’. Have we got the constitution to drill down to the heart of the solution?

O’Keefe said he had chosen to work alongside the gangs and had opened Te Aranga Marae to them on multiple occasions. “I believe that is part of the solution. I believe it is by association that we make change.”

The home is “as good a place as any to start”, he said. “What does the gang offer them that society doesn’t?”

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Police say anyone with information about gang activity, drugs or firearms, or anyone who has concerns, should call 105, or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Anyone with immediate concerns for the safety of themselves or others should call 111.

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