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A man is dead and two inquiries are under way after police gunned down the 37-year-old at point blank range in the Christchurch suburb of Avonside.
An eyewitness told ONE News the hammer-wielding man was very agitated with a hammer in his hand when he approached the police officer.
Two independent inquiries, one by the police and one by the Police Complaints Authority, are being carried out into the incident but Chris Young says the officer had little choice.
Young was just metres away when the fatal shots were fired on Wednesday night and says the dead man had earlier tried to get into his car to leave the scene.
"It was blatantly obvious that he was gonna try and give the police officer a good whack with the hammer."
The policeman was an experienced officer and was responding to several 111 calls about a man smashing up a flat and attacking vehicles.
Young says the police officer only fired his pistol after the man ran at him.
"The man just charged him with a hammer raised above his head with both hands...and ran at him really, really fast at the police officer."
The 37-year-old was shot just after 8.30pm and Young says the dead man was about a metre from the police officer when the shots were fired.
"He just went down and.. and his hammer continued on past the policeman...he let it go cause he was running quite fast at the guy."
Other witnesses have said the dead man had his hands at his sides when he was shot.
Ambulance staff were at the scene within 10 minutes but police believe he died almost instantly by a bullet in the chest.
The body was left at the scene overnight as investigation teams moved in and began collecting forensic evidence. It was eventually taken away late on Thursday morning.
The incident has re-opened debate about police shootings and one local voiced her concerns directly to ONE News.
Lynwood resident Irinka Britnell says she is very upset about the way the police have handled the issue.
"I just feel that the guy only had a hammer and he was breaking property and he didn't deserve to die," she says.
The police district commander said she was limited in what she could say because of the two ongoing investigations but said the man ignored warnings.
"The man advanced on the police officer with a hammer and was shot after being warned. Several shots were fired by a Glock. The deceased was hit twice - one fatal to the chest area and also to the leg. There were three officers at the scene," Superintendent Sandra Manderson said.
She said the officer checked the man for vital signs straight away and called for an ambulance but he is believed to have died instantly.
The Police Association says it is quite normal for there to be conflicting accounts of an incident like Wednesday night's fatal shooting of a man in Christchurch. President Greg O'Connor says the full story will not be clear until everyone who was there is interviewed and detectives compare what they saw.
O'Connor is in Christchurch supporting the officers who were involved.
A team of 30 police staff is investigating the shooting.
