Armed police officers have swarmed a West Auckland mall after an incident early this evening with exits blocked and shoppers and staff evacuated from the centre.

Several armed officers and police vehicles can be seen at the LynnMall shopping centre in the suburb of New Lynn.

“Police have a presence at a Great North Road mall in New Lynn where they are looking for a person of interest following an earlier incident,” a statement said.

A staff member at the RSA New Lynn – just behind the mall – said they rushed outside after they believed they heard two gunshots.

“We saw a person running through the carpark. I don’t know if he was running because of the gunshots or if he was being chased or what.“

The staffer said shortly afterwards, they saw several police cars arrive.

“We just saw police with guns.”

The RSA did not go into lockdown, she said.

But a police spokesperson said no shots had been fired.

Police could also be seen gathered inside the mall outside the entrance to Woolworths.

The same store was the scene of an horrific terror attack in 2021 where five shoppers were stabbed and the attacker, Ahamed Samsudeen, shot by undercover police.

The staff member said the incident happened about 5.15pm.

Another woman told the Herald she was waiting for her kids on the Bay Six parking lot when she heard a “boom.”

She said she saw a man run very fast, and he yelled something before he entered the mall.

Other members of the public in the area have taken to social media to share what they saw.

One person said they saw at least five police officers with guns.

Another said he and his wife saw a man running through the mall as officers gave chase.

A man posted a video while he walked around the car park filled with police. “I heard the gunshots just before, and I was running.”

Police could be seen parking their vehicles across the entrance and exits of the carparks at the rear of the shopping centre.

The police helicopter was also flying overhead.

A worker inside the mall told the Herald that while the mall had not been evacuated the entrance near the shop where he worked was blocked by police.

The worker said there were multiple police officers standing guard near their shop front, but they did not tell him what was happening.

A man told the Herald that he arrived at the mall just before 6pm when he saw two “heavily armed” police officers.

He said one of them was holding a Bushmaster rifle in the lobby entrance.

Between 20-30 people were outside the entrance after the police blocked access to the mall.

A retail worker in the mall at the time of the incident said they saw police arrive around 5:15pm.

Then 15 minutes later the worker said he “heard on the PA the duty manager for the mall announcing that the mall is being evacuated.”

He said he saw police with someone near the Cotton On.

He believed a person had been arrested.

One of many videos posted to social media shows the heavy police presence in the busy car park.

Meanwhile patrons of the Workshop bar in west Auckland – less than a kilometre from the New Lynn armed police call out – were shut into the bar after a man tried to smash through the glaring door.

The bar had around 15 people watching the Warriors match when an agitated man walked past the bar and smashed the ash trays on tables out front of the bar.

The man was seen filming people inside the bar and pointed his fingers like a gun.

He then grabbed chairs and table from the front of the bar and smashed the front foot.

A group of people confronted the man and tried to calm him down. Police were called and arrived about 10 minutes later.