Police say a young man who was shot three times at his home in Papatoetoe early on Sunday was executed while walking up to his front door.
The man's partner was home at the time of the shooting, and
found him collapsed with wounds to the head and torso.
The Maori man, aged 26, was a father of one child, and has not yet
been named by police waiting for some relatives to be informed.
"The victim was returning home after being out," police said in a statement. "Witnesses describe an offender (who) got out of a vehicle and shot at the victim".
The gunman was described as a Maori man aged about 30, 170cm high and of medium to solid build with short hair, and he drove off in a black sportscar.
"This was not a random shooting," said Detective Inspector John Tims, crime manager for Counties Manukau Police.
"This looks like a planned event; there will be a reason for it and that is what we will work to establish".
The homicide investigation team was conducting scene examinations and canvassing the neighbourhood.
Tims said two search warrants had been executed with the assistance of armed offenders personnel.
A post mortem examination was being conducted late on Sunday.
The death was only one of a series of violent incidents around Auckland over the weekend.
Shortly after the South Auckland shooting, Papakura police called to men fighting near netball courts on Smith Avenue, found a local man, 19, unconscious and on the ground with serious head injuries.
He was taken to Middlemore Hospital where his condition is described as critical.
Tims said residents and other people who may have heard or seen the attack or things relevant to it were asked to contact police".
In other incidents overnight: a Polynesian teenager, 17, was shot in the leg in Mangere at 9.30pm on Saturday " in what appears to be a drive-by shooting".
Currently in Middlemore Hospital, the victim was walking on Windrush Close at about 9.50pm when he was gunned down by an unknown man.
Tims said police had been told that his injuries and condition were not life-threatening.
"With the information we currently have, it appears this shooting is not random" said Tims.
Assistant Commissioner Steve Shortland said the string of violence was part of a violent last weekend of the winter: the northern communications centre received over 1100 calls between 10pm on Saturday night and 7am on Sunday morning.
Counties Manukau bore the brunt of the workload with police responding to a large number of incidents. That district's late shift, which normally finishes at 2am on Sunday morning, had 11 incident cars, two crime cars, a youth action team and 8 supervisors working - close to 40 police officers.
The overlapping night shift of about 35 staff who began work at 10pm meant there were about 70 police officers responding to calls.
Earlier in the weekend, Counties Manukau, with the help of the traffic alcohol group, ran a big drink-drive blitz deploying over 90 staff on Friday and Saturday nights between 10pm and 5am. Of the 9429 drivers and breath-tested, 220, or 2.3%, tested positive of those testing positive.
Shortland said that from 10 pm Saturday night until at least 2am Sunday morning, there were a total of 165 police working in the district.
