Police have launched a homicide investigation after a woman died in the early hours of this morning following the firearms incident at Mourea on Sunday morning.

The victim was Korrey Rose Whyman, 28, of Kawerau.

Detective Inspector Lindsay Pilbrow said police were working to piece together the events that led to Whyman's death.

Pilbrow said Whyman was found inside a vehicle at the scene with a serious gunshot wound around 1.55am on Sunday.

"Early inquiries have established that this incident started on State Highway 33 near Rotorua Airport where a vehicle was following another vehicle firing multiple shots.

"The vehicle with the victim in it has come to a stop outside a dairy in Mourea."

Whyman was rushed to Waikato Hospital with critical injuries and died this morning.

"Police are following a number of lines of inquiry but ask anyone with information regarding this incident to come forward," Pilbrow said.

"A woman has died and we now need to find the person or persons responsible for her death."

Anyone with information is asked to contact 105 quoting file number 220925/5119. You can also contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

• 'Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang': Gunshots unnerve residents, shot woman critical
• Woman critical after 'serious gunshot wound' near Rotorua

"It was bang, bang, bang, bang, bang."

That is how a concerned resident of Mourea, Lake Rotoiti, describes the loud gunshots he heard shortly before 2am on Sunday.

Police were called to State Highway 33 in Mourea about 1.55am on Sunday and found a woman with a serious gunshot wound.

A police cordon was put in place around The Happy Angler Store and Takeaways.

Outside the building was a grey four-door ute with its doors open and a back window that appeared to be smashed.

The Mourea resident spoke to the Rotorua Daily Post on the condition he and his wife were not named, out of caution for their safety given the circumstances of the shooting were not yet known.

He said police had also interviewed them and asked what they heard.

He said the couple were aware a wallaby cull was coming up, but knew that was not the cause of the gunshots.

"There were only five shots," he said.

The loud noises echoed.

"It's unnerving, shots in the middle of the night like that."