The Aramoana Massacre

A small seaside community

Aramoana is a small seaside township near Dunedin, in the south of New Zealand's South Island. On 13 November 1990 it became the scene of what was, at the time, the deadliest mass murder New Zealand had seen. Thirteen people died during a siege that lasted about 22 hours, and a number of people caught up in the events were later given bravery awards.

The gunman was David Gray, a 33-year-old unemployed man who lived in the township. He had no trial: he was shot by police the following day and died of his wounds, so no court ever tested the evidence or examined his motives.

The people who died

A memorial in the dunes beyond the village records the names and ages of the thirteen victims: Garry Holden (38), Jasmine Holden (11), Rewa Bryson (11), Jim Dickson (45), Tim Jamieson (69), Vic Crimp (72), Leo Wilson (6), Dion Percy (6), Ross Percy (42), Vanessa Percy (26), Aleki Tali (41), Chris Cole (62) and Sergeant Stewart (Stu) Guthrie (41). Four of those killed were children aged between six and eleven, and the oldest victim was in his seventies.

Sergeant Guthrie was the police officer stationed at nearby Port Chalmers and was the first officer to reach the scene. He was killed while responding, and he was later awarded the George Cross for gallantry. His name is also listed among the dead on the village memorial.

How the shooting unfolded

According to the account published by the Ministry for Culture and Heritage, the violence began after a verbal argument between Gray and a neighbour. Gray shot the neighbour and the neighbour's daughter, and then fired on people who were moving about the settlement. He was armed with a semi-automatic rifle fitted with a telescopic sight. Sergeant Guthrie, who came from Port Chalmers, was the first police officer on the scene and was among those shot dead.

The killings struck a very small community. The victims included neighbours, children and older residents, and some families lost more than one member.

The police response

Gray was not caught on the first day, and the armed police operation continued through the night. Officers found him the following day, 14 November, while carrying out a methodical search of the township house by house. When he came out of a house firing, members of the police Anti-Terrorist Squad, the unit that later became the Special Tactics Group, shot him. He was mortally wounded, and the siege ended with his death.

Because the gunman died, there was no prosecution. Public understanding of what happened has instead come from official histories, journalism and later works such as Bill O'Brien's book Aramoana: Twenty-two Hours of Terror and the 2006 feature film Out of the Blue, directed by Robert Sarkies.

Aftermath and remembrance

Exactly one year after the killings, on 13 November 1991, a memorial designed by local architect Bruce Bohm was unveiled in a hollow in the sand dunes. It consists of an inscribed granite column inside a ring of low stone walls, and a totara tree was planted beside it in November 2005 to mark the fifteenth anniversary.

Some of those left behind have spoken publicly about recovery. Julie-Anne Tamati, who lost her partner and her adopted daughter, has described forgiving Gray and contacting his family, and she planted daffodils where his house once stood. Bill O'Brien, who wrote a book about the siege, has argued that the community should not be defined by the tragedy alone.

Why the case matters: New Zealand gun law

The massacre started a long national argument about firearms. Then-police minister John Banks pressed for sweeping reform, but pressure from the gun lobby and rural communities meant the final changes stopped short of banning the import of semi-automatic weapons. Banks later called that outcome his greatest political disappointment.

What did pass was the Arms Amendment Act 1992, which took effect on 1 November 1992. It created a legal category of military style semi-automatic firearms that could only be held with a special police endorsement, required firearms licences to carry the holder's photograph, and made licences valid for ten years, with existing licences called in so holders had to reapply.

Those rules did not prevent the 15 March 2019 Christchurch mosque attacks, in which 51 people were killed and which led to much broader restrictions. Gun law has continued to change since then. In 2026 Parliament passed legislation to repeal and replace the Arms Act 1983, with most of the new Arms Act 2026 coming into force on 23 September 2026, the same day a new independent regulator, Firearms Safety and Education New Zealand, began operating. More than three decades after the event, Aramoana remains a reference point whenever New Zealand debates who should have access to semi-automatic weapons.