Police are responding to an incident on Auckland’s North Shore that sent four local schools into lockdown - Takapuna Grammar, Belmont Intermediate, Belmont Primary, Bayswater Primary School, and Northcote Intermediate. The incident happened this morning and is still unfolding. However, the affected schools have now lifted the lockdowns.

Police have advised there were reports coming through of a man with a firearm. A police cordon was still in place on the intersection of Bardia and Moa St and locals were asked to avoid the area. Police are surrounding a house on Belmont’s Bardia Street.

Police on the corner of Bardia Street and Lake Road in Belmont, Auckland. Photo: RNZ

Police at the incident. Photo: RNZ / Finn Blackwell

Photo: Supplied / Lara Franks

In another incident there was an arrest this morning after a vehicle was stolen in Devonport, where a police chase ensued. There were multiple vehicles involved in car crash, with one of the cars being driven into the garage of a local house. The man who crashed the car ran into two homes before being apprehended by police.

According to police these incidents are not linked.