WELLINGTON: An unarmed New Zealand policeman was shot and killed on an Auckland street Friday, becoming the first officer to die on duty for more than a decade in the normally peaceful South Pacific nation.

Police said the officer and a colleague were approaching a crashed car when a gunman produced a rifle and opened fire.

One officer died, another received serious leg injuries and a bystander was struck and badly hurt as the two men drove off in a second car, New Zealand's police commissioner Andrew Coster said.

Following a massive manhunt a 24-year-old man was charged.