Source: Radio New Zealand
The scene of the shooting on Wednesday. RNZ/Mark Papalii
The sister of a man who died after a shooting in Waitārere Beach in Horowhenua says her brother is more than just his criminal history.
Rach O’Grady and Benjamin Harry Timmins in photos taken in 1986 and 2025. Facebook/ Rach O’Grady
A 46-year-old woman and two males aged 17 and 21 – remain critically wounded in Wellington Hospital on Thursday.
A young girl who was at the scene of the shooting on Wednesday is being cared for by family.
Police are not looking for anyone else.
Rach O’Grady has identified her older brother, Benjamin Harry Timmins, 60, as the deceased, calling him a “loved friend, father, and brother. Trickster, funny fella, all round solid gold”.
Speaking to RNZ on Thursday, she said she understood her brother’s body was being removed from the house on Thursday.
In life, she remembered him as funny, intelligent, a staunch protector and sometimes strict parent.
In his 20s he joined the Territorial Force – now known as the Army Reserve Force – “to keep people safe, to protect, to ensure that he had a purpose in his life”, she said.
In more recent years his work had been caring for his children and working on the farm on Waitārere Beach Road, which had cows, sheep and horses, and a cattery in which they bred Ragdolls.
“He was a carer,” O’Grady said.
Wednesday’s events did not reflect the brother she knew, she said, and had left the family asking, “What happened to him?”
Amid speculation online, she wanted to make clear he did not have gang affiliations, and she was worried his past brushes with the law on cannabis and firearms offences painted a picture of a different person to the man she knew.
This morning, RNZ reported police seized a dismantled a gun, parts and ammunition from the property a few hours before returning to find a Timmins dead and three others with gunshot wounds.
Police also this morning confirmed they responded to a family harm-related incident at the property last Friday. One person was arrested and charged with assault on a person in a family relationship and had been scheduled to appear in court on 14 January.
The most recent events at the house were a failing of the mental health system, O’Grady said.
Her brother had changed in the past few years, becoming “quiet, withdrawn. He lost his spark for life”.
“Men’s mental health should never be ignored, because when a man breaks, it’s not just the man who breaks, it’s his families, the family he comes from, the family he’s created. Men’s mental health has been so ignored.”
She had last seen her brother at the weekend, and had spoken to him on the phone that night. She said one of his last comments to her was: “Make sure my story gets out.”
The family still had questions about what exactly had happened, and she hoped the police investigation would bring those answers.
“Ben is not the person that he is going to be portrayed as. He is not his criminal history.”
Manawatū area commander Inspector Ross Grantham said the scene examination could extend into the weekend.
“We will continue to guard the scene and the public within the community can expect to see a more heavy police presence there than they normally would,” he said.
“It’s like most small communities in New Zealand, everybody knows everybody or somebody knows somebody and so it will have a very wide impact on that community and the community within the Horowhenua.”
Police were not seeking anyone else.
“Family harm is a very wide spectrum and if this is indeed family harm, then it is most certainly at the top end of that spectrum,” he said. “That is terribly, terribly sad.”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
