The 2009 Napier shootings (also widely called the Napier siege by the New Zealand media) took place on 7 May 2009 in Napier, New Zealand. At around 9.30 am, Jan Molenaar fired on New Zealand Police officers executing a cannabis search warrant at his house at 41 Chaucer Road,^[1] killing Senior Constable Len Snee and seriously injuring Senior Constables Bruce Miller and Grant Diver.^[2] A neighbour attempting to assist the police was also shot.^[1]

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Over one hundred police, including Armed Offenders Squad and Special Tactics Group members, were brought in to cordon and contain the gunman, who was identified as a former territorial soldier.^[1] A siege lasting over forty hours developed, during which police officers made repeated attempts under fire to retrieve the body of the slain officer. With the assistance of two New Zealand ArmyNZLAVs, they were successful at about 5 p.m. on 8 May.^[2]

At around midday on 9 May police found the gunman dead inside the master bedroom of the house.^[3]

Jan Molenaar[edit]

Jan Molenaar, 51, was born of Ngāti Kahungunu extraction^[5] and grew up in Napier, where he went to Nelson Park Primary School, Napier Intermediate School and William Colenso College.^[6] In the 1980s he spent six years in the territorial armoured corps of the Hawke's Bay and Wellington Regiment. Molenaar is said to have been a loner, and to have missed his brother, who had killed himself after having experimented with the drug methamphetamine.^[6]

Timeline[edit]

Senior Constables Snee, Miller and Diver attended an address in Napier during a cannabis investigation. An occupant of the house fired shots at the policemen, killing Snee and wounding Miller and Diver. A neighbour was also shot when he tried to intervene.^[7][8] Diver sheltered behind a neighbouring house where he was able to phone for back up. Armed Offenders members responded quickly; with the aid of two members of the public they pulled Miller to safety; armed officers also retrieved the injured civilian, Leonard Holmwood.^[9] The officers were commended for their bravery at rescuing their comrades by Prime Minister John Key. Key also praised the police for their actions over the course of the Napier siege.^[10] Sacred Heart school, Nelson Park School, Napier Central School, Napier Intermediate and Napier Girls' High School were all on lockdown for Thursday, and Nelson Park School, Napier Central School and Napier Intermediate were shut on Friday.

Thursday 7 May[edit]

• 9.30 am: Senior Constables Len Snee, Bruce Miller and Grant Diver arrive at the home of Jan Molenaar, to serve a cannabis search warrant. Snee is shot dead, and the two other officers and a civilian are shot and wounded.
• 9.40 am: Police cordon off the surrounding area and evacuate local residents.
• 10.00 am: The injured officers Bruce Miller and Grant Diver are taken to hospital. Police fail to recover Snee's body after being shot at by the gunman.
• 11.03 am: Police announced that 'Police can confirm that three police officers have been involved in a shooting incident in Napier this morning. Two police officers have been injured and are in hospital. A third officer is unaccounted for at this stage.'^[11]
• 12.25 pm: More shots are fired, police talk to Molenaar through a loud hailer after which more shots are fired.
• 7.15 pm: A Police website media release announced 'Police have been unable at this point to extricate Senior Constable Snee.'^[12]
• 8.05 pm: The Special Tactics Group arrives aboard a Unimog.^[13]

Friday 8 May[edit]

• 4.35 pm: Two of the army's light armoured vehicles, followed by a police car with officers and a police dog inside, enter the cordoned area.^[14]
• 5.00 pm: The body of Leonard Snee was retrieved by Police.^[15]

Saturday 9 May[edit]

• 3:30 am: A volley of shots and a large explosion are heard. Police did not confirm where the shots came from. It was speculated that police detonated an explosive device against the house's garage door.
• 12:00 pm: Police discover the body of shooter Jan Molenaar in the first floor master bedroom.^[3]

Len Snee[edit]

Leonard 'Len' Snee (11 March 1956 – 7 May 2009) is the 29th member of the New Zealand Policekilled in the line of duty. A long serving officer who was well known to the local community,^[16] Snee was a member of the Armed Offenders Squad and worked on drugs cases. In 1996, he was involved in the manhunt for Constable Glenn McKibbin's murderer, Terence Thompson, in Flaxmere. As with Molenaar, he was of Ngāti Kahungunu extraction.^[5]

Aftermath[edit]

Molenaar continues to have admirers in Napier, particularly those impressed by his anti-gang stance;^[17] his tangi at Ruahapia marae and funeral were well attended.^[18] Snee's tangi was at Takapau marae^[19] and his funeral in Napier's Municipal Theatre.^[20]

Molenaar's partner Delwyn Ismalia Keefe, a convicted drug dealer,^[21] has received $10,000 of Accident Compensation Corporation compensation because Molenaar committed suicide.^[22] A restraining order has been issued against the house the two lived in, and more than $90,000 in cash and bank accounts, so the assets can be forfeited to the Crown once she is sentenced on the drug charges.^[23]

Keefe disputes accounts of the siege by police and others that Lenny Holmwood saved the lives of two officers by attempting to wrestle the gun from Molenaar.^[24] Holmwood has been recognised by The New Zealand Herald as its 2009 New Zealander of the Year for his heroism in saving Miller and Diver.^[25]

In 2011, Holmwood, two other civilians, 10 police officers and a paramedic received bravery medals for their actions during the shootings.^[26]

References[edit]

1. ^ ^abc'Napier gunman's house was 'a stronghold''. Stuff.co.nz. 10 May 2009. Archived from the original on 2 August 2009. Retrieved 10 May 2009.
2. ^ ^ab'Policeman's body recovered, siege status 'unchanged''. New Zealand Herald. 8 May 2009. Retrieved 8 May 2009.
3. ^ ^ab''Incredibly risky' operation at end of siege'. Television New Zealand. 9 May 2009. Archived from the original on 2 August 2009. Retrieved 14 September 2011.
4. ^Francis, Clio (13 May 2009). 'Napier gunman shot himself in head – coroner'. Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 13 May 2009.
5. ^ ^ab'Hundreds farewell gunman Jan Molenaar'. Stuff.co.nz. 15 May 2009. Retrieved 14 September 2011.
6. ^ ^ab'Napier Gunman Had 'Serious Issues''. Stuff.co.nz. 10 May 2009. Archived from the original on 2 August 2009. Retrieved 10 May 2009.
7. ^Eriksen, Alanah (9 May 2009). 'Hero 'took bullet' to protect policemen'. The New Zealand Herald. Archived from the original on 2 August 2009. Retrieved 14 September 2011.
8. ^'Police name officer shot dead'. The New Zealand Herald. 7 May 2009. Retrieved 14 September 2011.
9. ^Marty Sharpe, Clio Francis and Ruth Hill (11 May 2009). 'The heroes of Hospital Hill'. The Dominion Post. Fairfax Media. Archived from the original on 2 August 2009. Retrieved 11 May 2009.
10. ^'Key praises police over Napier siege'. NZPA. 11 May 2009. Archived from the original on 2 August 2009. Retrieved 11 May 2009.
11. ^'Shooting in Napier'. Archived from the original on 9 May 2009. Retrieved 7 May 2009.
12. ^'Accommodation offers for stranded Napier residents'. Retrieved 7 May 2009.
13. ^'Graphic: The Napier siege'. The New Zealand Herald. 9 May 2009. Retrieved 14 September 2011.
14. ^'Napier siege: Latest updates'. The New Zealand Herald. 8 May 2009. Archived from the original on 2 August 2009. Retrieved 14 September 2011.
15. ^'Police officer's body recovered'. Archived from the original on 11 May 2009. Retrieved 8 May 2009.
16. ^'Shot policeman was Senior Constable Len Snee'. Archived from the original on 24 February 2012. Retrieved 7 May 2009.
17. ^'Behind the Napier siege'. Stuff.co.nz. Archived from the original on 2 August 2009. Retrieved 21 June 2009.
18. ^'Hundreds farewell gunman Jan Molenaar'. The Press. 15 May 2009. Retrieved 14 September 2011.
19. ^'Slain officer's body taken to family marae'. Television New Zealand. Archived from the original on 2 August 2009. Retrieved 21 June 2009.
20. ^'Big turnout expected for policeman's funeral'. Television New Zealand. 13 May 2009. Retrieved 14 September 2011.
21. ^'Court hears arguments over Molenaar's estate'. 3 News. 20 November 2009. Archived from the original on 6 April 2012. Retrieved 14 September 2011.
22. ^Savage, Jared (21 November 2009). 'Siege killer's partner gets ACC payout'. The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 14 September 2011.
23. ^'Order blocks sale of Molenaar assets'. Radio New Zealand. 24 September 2009. Retrieved 14 September 2011.
24. ^Wall, Tony (21 June 2009). 'Molenaar partner: Holmwood no hero'. The Sunday Star-Times. Retrieved 14 September 2011.
25. ^Gower, Patrick (5 December 2009). '2009 New Zealander of the Year: Lenny Holmwood'. The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 14 September 2011.
26. ^'2011 Special Honours list in full'. ONE News. 2 April 2011. Retrieved 2 April 2011.

External links[edit]

• Press release about the death of Len Snee at New Zealand Police
• Siege on IMDb (2012 TV movie about the Napier shootings)

Coordinates: 39°29′27″S176°54′10″E / 39.4908°S 176.9028°E

Bullets fly in Napier as an everyday police operation turns unexpectedly deadly.

A Defence Force LAV (light armoured vehicle) heads up Chaucer Road during the Napier Siege. Photo: STUFF

It's been ten years since Lenny Holmwood was shot by his mate but he remembers it like it was yesterday.

Lying on the cool pavement of Napier’s Hospital Hill he could see bullets spark as they hit the concrete and hear the cries of wounded police officers.

It was here, enveloped in chaos, he sent a famous text about his cat Scrappy that marked perhaps the only light moment of the Napier Siege.

'Jan busted. Three cops shot. Me leg. Can you feed Scrappy?’

What ensued was a 51-hour standoff between police and gunman Jan Molenaar after a routine search warrant went horribly wrong.

How it started

7 May 2009 was a crisp autumn morning when Senior Constables Grant Diver, Bruce Miller and Len Snee knocked on the door of 41 Chaucer Road. They suspected Molenaar was running a small dope growing operation so, search warrant in hand, they knocked on his door. Molenaar’s partner, Delwyn Keefe, let them into the house. Lenny isn’t far behind them; popping over for a cup of tea after a boozy night out.

41 Chaucer Road Napier, the site of the siege. Photo: Anneke Smith/RNZ

Molenaar was out walking his dog and by the time he returned, the police officers had found cannabis plants and a sawn-off shotgun in his basement. Lenny is with Delwyn in the kitchen when Molenaar arrives home and the situation kicks off.

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In Lenny’s words, “it exploded”.

Molenaar becomes immediately angry and disappears down the hallway; returning with a rifle, he orders everyone out of the house. Outside, things seem to have de-escalated. But in fact, they’ve only just started. Jan Molenaar’s eye follow Constable Snee as he reaches the roadside.

As the police officer turns to face the house, Molenaar takes aim with his telescopic rifle and shoots. Lenny watches in horror as Constable Miller is hit in the back and a bullet tears through Diver's forearm, lodging in his stomach.

Lenny's memory gets patchy here, there are seconds and movements he's lost over the years, but the next thing he remembers is Jan Molenaar standing in front of him.

'I heard the moans of the officers up the road. I looked at them over my shoulder and as I looked back the barrel was swinging past me towards them.”

Lenny grabbed the barrel of the gun and swung it away; his scrawny frame struggling against Jan Molenaar's bulky figure. As the pair struggle over the gun, Constables Miller and Diver disappear up the hillside. Lenny's actions saved their lives. 'My wrestling the gun gave them the ten, 20 seconds they needed to get out of line of sight,” he said.

A bullet strikes the footpath and then Lenny is hit. When he tries to get to his feet his left leg collapses. Molenaar returns to the house, giving Lenny a chance to take in what’s happened. Lying metres away from him is Len Snee; he's been shot at least twice, once at close range. Bullets fire overhead as Lenny Holmwood dials 111.

After he makes the call he can only watch and wait, helpless. 'He was just struggling. You can hear the breath going and then you hear the last sigh when everything gave way. For me that was the hardest part of the day; watching someone fade and not being able to do anything.'

The siege

By complete coincidence, Hawke's Bay's top police officers are all at the Napier War Memorial Centre that morning. Eastern District Commander Sam Hoyle gets a call before he goes in and takes immediate control. An operation command centre is set up at the old Napier Police Station and an AOS squad is deployed to Hospital Hill.

Superintendent Sam Hoyle. Photo: RNZ / Alexander Robertson

Inspector Mike O'Leary heads to the scene as the forward commander. Rounding the top of the slope locals call 'Breakneck Hill', he can hear the gunfire clearly but can’t see much. As he gets to work a car with bullet holes in it pulls up.

Amazingly, Bruce Miller is inside. One of the first police officers on the scene, Detective Sergeant Tim Smith had gone down Chaucer Road, unarmed, and used the car to rescue Miller. AOS officers moving down the hill were able to rescue Grant Diver and Lenny Holmwood; all under rapid gunfire.

After Lenny, Bruce and Grant are on their way to hospital, the only one left is Len Snee; his body is at the base of the hill. Mike O'Leary said Len would have wanted them to be safe.

'AOS training kicked in and they know that Lenny would have said 'Do what you have to do. You can come back to me when you need to.' It's obviously extremely hard for any police officer to leave one of our own fallen but there was no alternative short of losing further lives.'

Molenaar holed himself up in his house; firing off rounds as a negotiation team was brought in. The negotiation team tried to contact him by landline and cellphone without luck. Eventually, they ask his partner Delwyn Keefe to speak to him. She calls around 11pm. He sounds tired and depressed but defensive. The siege continues.

Media scrutiny

The shooting made headlines immediately; reaching people who had tuned in to hear the latest in David Bain's retrial. As the first few hours ticked by, reporters from around the country flew to Napier to file news from the field, adding a layer of complexity to the police operation.

It was a national story but Sam Hoyle was only concerned about the eyes and ears of one individual - Jan Molenaar.

'I was well aware that he was probably [watching]. We had conversations early on with some of the media outlets who were filming AOS officers on the hill that they were inadvertently, potentially giving their position away.'

In the end negotiations failed. Jan Molenaar shot himself in the head on the afternoon of the 8th of May. The police waited a full day to make sure it was safe to enter the house. The siege was finally over.

Sam Hoyle said it wasn't the outcome the police wanted. 'That was, in one respect, a disappointment for me because I would have dearly loved to see him be held to account. The negotiators had spent so many hours with him and I think they and I felt a bit cheated at the end of that.'

The funeral of Senior Constable Len See. Photo: STUFF

A husband, father, rugby player and a mate to many, Len Snee had been a cop for more than 30 years and meant a lot to his community. Thousands of people turned out for his funeral a few days later; a New Zealand flag was draped over his coffin and his police cap sat on top of it. Still injured, Grant Diver watched from a hospital bed as the casket was carried past him.

What followed

Investigations after the siege found Molenaar house was more a fortress than a home. He had stockpiled ammunition, wired up door handles and punched holes in walls so he had a clear shot if anyone entered the house. Molenaar had given up his gun license 15 years earlier and had built an illegal cache of 17 firearms.

Mike O’Leary said police didn't know this when they knocked on his door. 'What we need from the public is if they know something about someone they need to tell us because the police don't know everything.'

In his 2010 report, Coroner David Crerar said a major failing in both deaths was the lack of intelligence the police had on hand. He said it was clear people knew about Molenaar's cannabis, knew about his firearms and knew he could be violent and unpredictable but no one said anything.

Coroner Crerar called for a review of the Arms Act but it didn't happen. Most of the firearms found at Jan Molenaar's house were high calibre or semi-automatic weapons that had no legitimate use. You need a special license for these nowadays.

On the tenth anniversary family and colleagues of Len Snee gathered at the Napier Sailing Club to remember him. Sam Hoyle was among the police officers dressed in their number ones. He’s been the Wellington’s District Commander for five years now.

He doesn’t believe stricter gun laws would have stopped Jan Molenaar that day in Napier. 'What will be different in the future, with the new approach to legislation, is that there are less of these of these high-powered semi-automatic weapons in circulation which will make them harder to procure illegally. So that will be a positive movement forward.'

An unsuspecting hero, Lenny Holmwood was awarded a Bravery Star for his actions. A group of police officers, including Detective Sergeant Tim Smith, were also given the award. Ask Lenny and he’ll tell you he’s copped grief as well as honours. Down a quiet street in Maraenui, you’ll find him pottering in his garden and spending time with his dog, Kūkupa. It’s a life that’s a far cry from the drama of the Napier Siege but his memories will never leave him.

Lenny Holmwood at home with his dog Kūkupa. Photo: Anneke Smith/RNZ

This episode of Eyewitness was made using audio from Ngā Taonga Sound and Vision.