New Zealand Man Charged in Deadly Rampage

A New Zealand man was charged today with the murder of one of six people massacred in a central North Island town.

Stephen Anderson, 22, of Wellington appeared in the Taumarunui district court and was formally charged with the Saturday slaying of Hendrick Derek Young Van de Wetering.

A psychiatric report has been ordered on Anderson, who is unemployed. Police said other charges were pending.

Van de Wetering was one of six people killed and five wounded when a gunman went on a rampage in the hamlet of Raurimu, about 21 miles southeast of Taumarunui. The names of the other victims have not been released.

The suspect, who was described by residents in Raurimu as a former psychiatric patient, was later found naked and unarmed in the woods.

The violence began with a family argument, and it appeared that the gunman’s relatives, including his parents, bore the brunt of his rage, police said. But passersby also were caught in the shooting.

The wounded were flown to hospitals by helicopters.

One resident, Gordon Stewart, said he was at the local school when he heard about eight shots.

“At first it was thought to be hunters out in the nearby bush,” he said. “But then a car drove up with a man inside pleading for help. He had been shot in the head. He said that someone had gone berserk with a shotgun and was shooting at random.”