Dairy owner injured after being shot in Bay of Plenty

The police station located just a few metres from a dairy shop did not deter two men from making a robbery attempt in Edgecumbe, Bay of Plenty.

Harjinder Kaur and her husband Satinder Singh were sitting behind the counter in their Main St. dairy shop in Edgecumbe on Tuesday, February 6 at around 6:30 p.m.when a man dressed in black with face covered holding an air gun entered the shop with the intent to rob.

Ms Kaur told police that she was just sitting with her husband when the man came in pointing the air gun at the couple and put a bag on the counter asking them to ‘put something’.

Mr Singh quickly reached to a bat kept under the counter when the offender shot him with his BB pistol. The pellet hit Mr Singh on top of his sternum and bottom of his neck.

“As soon as he got off his chair to pick the bat, the man shot him,” Ms Kaur told the police.

“He [the offender] was standing at the gap of the counter and crouched before firing his gun,” she added.

Although hurt, Mr Singh chased the offender with his bat outside the store on to the riverbank.

The man then vanished from the scene.

Mr Singh then came back to the store and removed the pellet from his body, which caused minor injuries to him.

The police reported to the scene in a few minutes while Ms Kaur was still talking with the operator on 111.

The dairy owner received minor injuries and was treated by an ambulance at the scene.

Police say that there were two people involved in this operation and both were screening the place for some time looking for the opportunity. Police have described the man in his mid-20s wearing dark clothing, a red cap and white shoes. A second man acting as a look-out was wearing a blue shirt.

The offenders were unable to take anything in their robbery attempt.

The two men are still at large and police is looking for them.

Whakatane Senior Sergeant Mark van der Kley asks anyone who saw the two men to contact Whakatane police on (07) 308 5255.

"This is the second time people have tried to rob us. The first time was in December last year, and nothing was taken that time either," Ms Kaur added.