An 18 year-old man who was the subject of a Police search this morning has been detained by Police and is now undergoing assessment by mental health services.
Police launched a search for the man at around 11.30am this morning.
A number of schools in the Whangaparaoa and Red Beach area were advised and were locked down as a precauationary measure.
Officers found the man on Red Beach Road near the Mobil station at 12.55pm and he was detained without incident. He did not have a weapon on him.
"The situation was well-controlled by all of the schools involved, who followed our instructions and took sensible precautions to keep the students safe whilst we continued the search" says Inspector Mark Fergus, Area Commander, Rodney Police.
"During the incident, there was a lot of social media commentary . Social media can be fantastic, but during an event like this we encourage members of the community to head to mainstream media, www.police.govt.nz/news or the Waitemata Police twitter feed, so they can keep up with any updates and get the correct information" says Inspector Fergus.
"We'd like to thank the many members of the community who helped us this morning by remaining calm, following instructions and allowing us to do our job" says Inspector Fergus.
ENDS
Media: Inspector Fergus is available for short interviews until 4pm today. There will be no further comment made after this. Please call Beth Bates on 021 192 1243 to arrange a time.