AN unarmed New Zealand police officer was fatally shot in Auckland today, the force’s first death in the line of duty in more than a decade, with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern describing the attack as “devastating”.

Police said the officer and a colleague were carrying out a routine traffic stop involving a car carrying two people when one of them produced a rifle and opened fire.

One officer died, another received serious leg injuries and a member of the public was hospitalised after being struck by the fleeing vehicle, said commissioner Andrew Coster.

Police immediately launched a massive search for the two men.

“This is the type of work that our officers undertake every day to keep the public safe,” Coster told reporters.

“At this stage, there is nothing to indicate that the job was going to be anything out of the ordinary.”

He declined to speculate on a possible motive for the shooting.

Ardern, in a statement, offered condolences to the officer’s family and police colleagues.

“This is devastating news. Our police officers work hard every day to keep us and our communities safe.”

Armed cops flooded the suburb of Massey in west Auckland searching for the offenders, but Coster said they have not yet been found.

The officer is the 23rd to be shot dead on duty since 1890, according to police’s website, with the previous fatal shooting in 2009.

Coster said the officers involved in the Auckland incident were unarmed.

Police last week decided against introducing armed patrols, and Coster said the shooting will not prompt him to revisit the issue.

It comes just a day after Parliament voted to further tighten New Zealand’s firearms laws in the wake of last year’s Christchurch mosque massacre, where a lone gunman murdered 51 Muslims. – AFP, June 19, 2020.