The person who shot a 52-year-old man in Invercargill yesterday is still at large, police say.

The victim of the shooting is now out of surgery and in a stable condition. He was found with a gunshot wound on Kelvin Street at around 9.15am yesterday morning.

Southern police said they were still in the early stages of their investigation, and the offender had not been located.

The Armed Offenders Squad was called yesterday as a precaution, but police have since said there was no threat to public safety following the shooting.

Officers were interviewing several witnesses to the incident.

Invercargill resident Caitlin Barton said yesterday that she saw a man lying on the footpath as she drove to work.

"He was lying flat as if he had slipped on ice and had a back injury," she said.

"Lots of people were crowding around him and an ambulance came flying past me...I didn't think it was a shooting until I saw it on Facebook."