WELLINGTON  - A New Zealander was killed in a rare shark attack at a popular tourist beach, with police forced to shoot at the predator from a boat to retrieve the victim’s body, officials said. The attack took place at Muriwai Beach, 40km west of Auckland at about 1:30pm, police said, and is the first confirmed shark fatality in the country for more than 35 years. The St John ambulance service said the victim was a 47-year-old man, who was a local who had been swimming about 100m offshore when he was attacked. They reported seeing a huge patch of blood in the water and said swimmers, including a large group of students on an excursion to the beach, scrambled for shore as the cry of shark went up.