Who is the Auckland shooter? New details emerge about Matu Tangi Matua Reid and his victims

The Auckland gunman’s violent past has been laid bare when it is revealed that he was fired by his employer from the construction company just a day before his terrifying rampage.

Matu Tangi Matua Reid, 24, was found dead in the elevator shaft of a building in Commercial Bay, in central Auckland, after exchanging gunfire with police early Thursday morning.

Reid was being monitored by correctional services via an ankle monitor when he stormed into the high-rise building armed with a pump-action shotgun.

The builder had been fired the day before the shooting, and his two victims, in their 40s, had worked alongside the 24-year-old at the construction site.

New Zealand Police Commissioner Andrew Coster told TVNZ’s Breakfast that the terror rampage may have been influenced by “workplace tension”.

Reid had been granted special permission to attend the workplace as part of a house arrest sentence imposed on him for committing a felony assault in 2021.

He was ordered to serve a five-month prison sentence after slapping, kicking and strangling a woman with whom he was in an intimate relationship at the time.

The builder had been fired the day before the shooting, and his two victims, in their 40s, had worked alongside the 24-year-old at the construction site.

In March, Reid admitted to charges of impeding breathing, injuring with intent to injure, intentional harm, and male assaults on women, the New Zealand Herald reports.

The assault on September 16, 2021 left his partner with a fractured bone in his neck.

Judge Stephen Bonnar KC’s sentencing notes reveal that shortly before midnight, Reid became angry at something his partner said, leading to a verbal altercation.

He then pushed the woman from a chair and threw an object at her head, striking and injuring her right eye, before threatening to ‘eliminate’ her and her entire family.

Reid then kicked the woman, causing her to fall backwards onto the bed, where he grabbed her by the throat, choking her breath for up to 10 seconds.

He continued to threaten his partner, saying, ‘You don’t know what I’m capable of’ as he picked up a pair of scissors and shoved the handles to his side.

The violent assault culminated in a terrifying last threat from Reid, who at the time was staying with his partner and family on Auckland’s north shore.

“I’ve had enough, it’s time, I’m going to take you all,” he told the woman.

Investigators are working to determine the motive and cause of the shooting and how the suspected shooter had acquired a gun without a license (police on scene pictured)

When the woman returned home with police later that night, she discovered that Reid had set fire to a small wicker basket inside her bedroom.

Judge Bonnar notes that the woman had suffered a broken neck bone, a swollen and black eye, as well as bruises and scratches.

Reid denied any wrongdoing when questioned by police, telling officers that the woman’s injuries had been sustained during “rough sex.”

His criminal record shows a prior assault from 2020, for which he was serving a community sentence at the time of the incident.

Reid had previously been ordered to attend anger management sessions.

A cultural report delivered to the court revealed that Reid had witnessed domestic violence and physical abuse from a young age, which caused her to run away from home.

Judge Bonnar noted that sending Reid to jail could “set him on the wrong track.”

Instead, the 24-year-old was sentenced to a five-month house sentence to be served at a property in Flat Bush, south-east Auckland.

The conditions of the home prison sentence to attend a non-violence program, not consume alcohol or drugs and not associate with the victim.

A probation officer had recommended home detention as a satisfactory sentence after deciding that Reid was at low risk of recidivism.

Acting National Corrections Commissioner Sean Mason said the director of probation would conduct an internal review.

New Zealand Police Commissioner Andrew Coster told TVNZ’s Breakfast the terror rampage may have been influenced by “workplace tension” (police on scene pictured)

An injured police officer is seen being escorted to a waiting ambulance. Seven people, including a police officer, remain in hospital on Friday for injuries sustained during the shooting.

“While our full review has not yet been conducted, initial information suggests that Community Corrections staff closely managed their compliance with these conditions,” Commissioner Mason said.

“He was in frequent contact with staff and was required to report to his probation officer twice every 10 days. The last time she showed up was yesterday.

Reid was an active participant in the court-ordered nonviolence program and had completed the drug and alcohol program, failing two drug tests.

Commissioner Coster confirmed that authorities had identified the two victims and were preparing to contact their families.

Investigators are working to determine the motive and cause of the shooting, as well as how the suspected shooter had acquired a gun without a license.

Seven people remain in the hospital Friday, including a male police officer.