Live: Man shot dead by police after chase through East Auckland

A man has been shot dead in Auckland, after leading police on a chase from Pakuranga to the Sylvia Park shopping mall in the suburb of Mt Wellington.

Police said the man was suspected of stealing an air rifle from a gun shop then drove erratically several kilometres across east Auckland. Police cars and the police helicopter were in pursuit.

His car got stuck on at an intersection outside the mall and he fled inside, they said. Police tracked him down to an underpass, where they found him still with the rifle.

He was shot by police and died at the scene.

The mall was put into lockdown, with shoppers and workers trapped inside stores as the police operation unfolded.