The Samoa Police Service has sent its sympathies and condolences to their colleagues at Aotearoa Police following the death of Constable Matthew Dennis Hunt.

Constable Hunt was shot while carrying out a routine traffic stop on Reynella Dr, West Auckland, on Friday. 

Another police officer was also seriously injured in the shooting with a member of the public also sustaining minor injuries when they were struck by the fleeing car.

“We pray for his family and loved ones in the hope that they be comforted in the fact that he died while serving to protect his community,” stated a post on the Police Facebook page on Saturday. “From all of us here in the Samoa Police Service we say, ‘manuia lau malaga, alofaaga mo Leoleo Niu Sila!’”

Attempts to get a comment from Police Commissioner Fuiavaili'ili Egon Keil was not successful. 

According to the Associated Press, an unarmed police officer was shot and killed and another was wounded after they tried to pull over a car in New Zealand’s largest city Friday morning.

The suspect and another person then escaped in a second car, sparking a large search in Auckland. By Friday night, police said they had arrested and charged a 24-year-old man with murder and he is due to make his first court appearance Saturday. 

New Zealand Police said other people could face charges. A bystander was also hit by the suspect’s car and injured.