Australian tourist randomly shot dead in New Zealand - New York Post

An Australian tourist was randomly gunned down inside a camper van where he and his fiancée were staying in a New Zealand surfing town early Friday, according to new reports.

Sean McKinnon, 33, and his Canadian sweetheart, Bianca Buckley, 32, were parked on a beach in the town of Raglan around 3:20 a.m. when a man thumped on the window, The Australian reported.

He demanded the keys to the van before firing his gun at McKinnon, according to the report.

Buckley got away and called the cops — but the suspect drove away with the gravely wounded McKinnon still in the van, The Independent reported.

The van was discovered around 8 a.m., about 46 miles away in the village of Gordonton — with McKinnon’s lifeless body inside, according to the report.

It wasn’t clear whether the tourist died of the initial shooting, or was attacked again after the gunman took off with the van, according to the report.

“This is a tragic incident,” Detective Inspector Graham Pitkethley said, according to The Independent. “I want to reassure the public that we are working hard to identify and locate the offender. It is our absolute priority.”

One lone male is being sought in connection with the “random attack,” Pitkethley said, according to The Australian.

“We are supporting the female victim, who is understandably very shocked and distressed, providing her with the support and welfare she needs,” he said.

McKinnon was raised in the small town of Nirranda, near Warrnambool in southwest Victoria, according to the report.

His distraught family called him a “gentle sort of soul with a good sense of humor.”

“He was devastatingly handsome and a caring, sensitive young man, even as a boy,” McKinnon’s older sister Emmeline told the Herald Sun. “He would always tell you he loved you and would give you a hug.”

Buckley had been living in Auckland, New Zealand, working as a midwife and volunteering as a yoga teacher, according to The Australian.

She had been planning a surfing trip that took place last weekend at Whangamata, on the opposite side of New Zealand’s North Island from the crime scene.

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