Police Commissioner Andrew Coster is giving a media conference on the fatal shootings in Auckland.
Three people are dead, including the gunman, after shots were fired at a construction site on lower Queen Street this morning.
Police said at this stage they could confirm an officer had been injured as well as four members of the public. St John said six patients had been transported to hospital.
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said police had neutralised the threat and there was no national level security risk.
There was no identified political or ideological motive behind the shooting, he said. It was not being considered an act of terror.
The offender was armed with a pump-action shotgun, and moved through the building site discharging the firearm as he went, Hipkins said.
When he got to the upper levels of the building the man "contained himself in an elevator, shots were fired, and he was located a short time later", he said.
Coster started by extending his condolences and sympathies to the families and colleagues of those who were killed.
"Their lives have been irrevocably affected by this tragic situation and our thoughts are with them.
"I've had an update from the investigation team (which) is working at pace to understand why and how this terrible event occurred today in the Auckland CBD. At 7.22am, police received multiple emergency calls with reports of a person discharging a firearm from inside the third floor of a building under construction at the botton of Queen Street.
"Police were on scene at the site within minutes. We are continuing to piece together the entire sequence of events, but what we know is as follows.
"The offender made his way up through the building site, discharging his firearm on multiple occasions. Police entered the building within 10 minutes. Staff from various groups, right across Tamaki Makarau, responded and members of the public inside the building were evacuated wherever possible. We know that several workers found refuge hiding inside the bulding during the event.
"At around 8am, out Armed Offenders Squad, supported by Special Tactics group, located the offender inside a lift shaft where he has barricaded himself and attempted to engage him, having secured the floors above and below. The offender fired at police, injuring an officer."
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