Up to 40 police officers are investigating a homicide after a 38 year old man was found dead on Carisbrooke Street in Aranui.

Detective Inspector Nicola Reeves said police were called at 2.28AM where they found the local man’s body.

She said neighbours heard unusual noises before calling police, but wouldn’t say what that was.

“As you’ll see, there’s a large police presence here, and local residents can expect to see that continue for a little bit longer. At this stage our focus is now on establishing the circumstances surrounding the incident and notifying and supporting the victim’s family at this difficult time.

“We’re not really in a position to release too many details about what we understand has taken place. And we won’t be releasing any details as to the identity of the deceased man at the stage. We’re continuing to make inquiries, but I would like to encourage anybody who thinks they have some information to come forward and let police know so if you’ve heard any unusual sounds or noticed anything unusual and Carisbrooke Street around 2am this morning.

“We will have a number of police in the street looking to speak to the residents here. “If you have any CCTV footage, we would be interested in seeing that as well.

“One of the other things that I can say now is that we’re looking for sightings of a white 2006 Toyota Sedan. The registration is LEQ 895.

“So that vehicle is currently within our scene. We’re looking for any sightings or any movements of that in the last 24 hours prior to about 2am this morning.

“I’d like the people of Christchurch just keep a really open mind where they may have seen that vehicle”

A post mortem will be completed tomorrow.

“I think the residents of Canterbury can consider themselves safe. We’ve we’ve got a lot of work to do ahead of us to actually work out the circumstances, but there’s an increased police presence at the moment. We have about 30 to 40 police officers working on this at the moment and we’ve got a number of inquiries to complete and a lot of information together. A local resident said she woke up at 3AM to find multiple police cars, two fire engines and two ambulances on the street, but said she didn’t hear anything unusual.”