David Gray
Thirteen people, including police constable Stewart Guthrie, were killed in Aramoana, near Port Chalmers, in 1990 by 33-year-old David Gray, who was shot dead by police the next day after a siege.
Brian Schlaepfer
In 1992, 64-year-old Brian Schlaepfer murdered his wife, his three sons, the wife of one son and a grandson in Paerātā, south of Auckland. Schlaepfer then killed himself. His granddaughter survived by barricading herself in a bedroom.
Raymond Ratima
In 1992, 25-year-old Raymond Ratima killed seven members of his Masterton family, including three of his own children. Ratima and his wife had been having problems in their relationship and were living with her parents. He was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Bain family killings
Five members of the Bain family were killed in Dunedin in 1994. In 1995 22-year-old David Bain, the only survivor, was convicted of murdering his mother, his father, his two sisters and his younger brother. He was sentenced to life imprisonment with a 16-year non-parole period.
From the start there was controversy over whether David was responsible or whether his father Robin had killed the others and then shot himself while David was out on his paper run. After an appeal to the Privy Council succeeded in 2007, David Bain was retried in the Christchurch High Court in 2009 and acquitted.
Alan Lory
Six residents of the New Empire Hotel in Hamilton died when Alan Lory (41) set fire to the building in 1995. Lory was acquitted of murder but convicted of manslaughter and arson and sentenced to life imprisonment. He was released in 2009.
Stephen Anderson
22-year-old Stephen Anderson killed six people and wounded another eight at a ski lodge in Raurimu, near Taumarunui, on 8 February 1997. Among the dead were friends invited to join the Anderson family for the weekend. Found to be legally insane, Anderson was committed to secure psychiatric care. He was freed from care in 2009 but recalled in 2011. He was again released and worked as a tutor at a Wellington art school, but lost his job after his position was publicised in 2014.
Christchurch mosque terrorist attack
On 15 March 2019, self-proclaimed ‘white nationalist’ Brenton Tarrant opened fire on worshippers at mosques in Deans Ave and Linwood, killing 51 people and wounding 49. The Australian-born shooter used five weapons, including two semi-automatic assault rifles, in the attack. The death toll would have been even higher but for the heroism displayed by unarmed men at both mosques, and by the police officers who forced the assailant’s car off the road in central Christchurch. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern described it as one of New Zealand’s darkest days.