A 25-year-old man is under Police guard at North Shore Hospital this morning, following an incident in West Auckland overnight in which Police officers were fired at on 3 separate occasions.

At around 11.15pm last night, Police were carrying out a routine checkpoint in Te Atatu Road, Te Atatu South.

A car with two occupants approached the checkpoint, but then did a U-turn and drove off at speed.

The car failed to stop and a pursuit began.

A short time later, a 23 year-old woman in the passenger seat of the fleeing car pointed a gun at the Police officers.

The car stopped and shots were then fired at Police, but none of the officers were struck.

The car then fled but was spotted by another Police patrol and the pursuit recommenced.

The woman shot at the officers from the passenger window of the car but again missed.

The pursuit continued and a short time later on Summerland Drive, the car collided with the pursuing Police car.

At this point the man got out of the car holding a sawn-off shotgun and shot at the officers, who had taken cover behind the car.

The man and woman ran away into the residential area.

A large number of Police officers had already been deployed to the area and cordons were put in place around the Ranui area.

The Armed Offenders Squad and Police dog units began searching the large residential area.

Around half an hour later, Police found the 23 year-old woman attempting to leave the cordoned area in a taxi. She was arrested immediately.

A large number of officers continued the search for the man and two hours later he was found hiding under a car in a shed, on a residential property in Munroe Road.

He still had the gun when found by Police and a Police dog was required to be deployed to apprehend him.

The man has some dog bites and is in North Shore Hospital.

'I am extremely proud of our officers.

"This was a very dangerous situation and it is a credit to our staff that no-one was killed or injured.

"From the time the car failed to stop at the checkpoint to the point at which the offenders crashed into our patrol car was a period of around only 4 minutes.

"In that short space of time our officers have been fired upon multiple times.

"Our staff have then searched for an armed and active gunman in the dark and have managed to locate and apprehend him.

"They have protected innocent members of the public in the most dangerous of situations.

"We all know that this could have ended very differently and I know that there will be many people who are very relieved this couple have been caught” says Superintendent Bill Searle, District Commander, Waitemata Police.

The officers involved are all uninjured.

Both the man and woman will be facing a range of serious criminal charges.

The 23-year-old woman is expected to appear in court this afternoon.

It's not known yet when the man will appear and a further media release will be made in relation to this.

Source: New Zealand Police.