ACT Party candidate Matt Yovich’s campaign sign was apparently shot multiple times.
Photo: Supplied / Matt Yovich

The ACT Party’s candidate for Whangārei’s Bream Bay Ward, Matt Yovich, has pulled down one of his hoardings after it was apparently shot at.

Yovich said the sign had been posted up at the edge of a friend’s rural property just south of Whangārei, who were keeping an eye on it for him.

“On Monday morning, I got a call from [my friend] and he sort of said, ‘Look, you really should come and take it down and get rid of it from outside our house because it’s been shot at overnight’.

“When I got there, he’d actually already called the police and sorted all of that out, but there was apparently seven shots, they were saying, put through pretty much the silhouette of me, mainly through the head and body.”

Photographs show half a dozen punctures in the sign and several shotgun casings on the ground.

Several shotgun casings were found near the sign.
Photo: Supplied / Matt Yovich

Yovich said he expected more attention, having put his name forward for the Bream Bay Ward, but shooting a hoarding was out of line.

“I must admit I probably took it fairly lightly that day. I sort of had a laugh with the boys, you sort of say, ‘Oh, the sign’s had a couple of shots through it’.

“Then I got out there and it was there and it was like holy heck this is actually a lot more than just a couple of shots and it’s actually a friend of mine. It’s not a political person.”

It wasn’t fair that his friends had to deal with it, Yovich said.

Photo: Supplied / Matt Yovich

“It was on the edge of his property, and him and his wife were asleep, obviously, at two o’clock in the morning. She was just horrified.

“She just said, you know, this is not what we expected when you put up a sign for my local election.”

Yovich said the police hadn’t found any fingerprints on the shell casings that were found.

“So they’re sort of saying there’s not a lot they can do otherwise from there without any more information.”

“Hopefully, a bit of attention might sort of call [the shooter] off a bit, too. Charlie Kirk, the other day, that was that sort of put it in perspective a little bit.”

The police have been approached for comment.

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