Whangarei shooter 'planned to kill' - former workmate

A former workmate of the Northland gunman who killed two women on Wednesday says he believes the shooting was premeditated.

Quinn Patterson allegedly shot dead Wendy Campbell, 60, her daughter Natanya Campbell, 37, and wounded a contractor as they were conducting a property inspection at Mr Patterson's rented house in Whangarei Heads.

"He'd planned what he was gonna do. And they'd come on to his property and actually come in to his house and I think that's what set him off," workmate Trevor Thompson told Three's The Project.

"In a sense he's a nice guy… but he planned to kill these people. I believe that."

"I stayed awake last night, thinking. Could I have rung or talked to someone about it?"

On Thursday police recovered "badly burnt" human remains thought to belong to Patterson, from inside the house destroyed by fire.

Earlier Patterson had sent a text to a friend, calling his life "one continuous struggle without end or point" and saying he was "done with it".

Mr Thompson says he fears the landlord never told the property managers that Patterson was a "loose cannon" - although he can't say for sure whether they were even aware themselves.

The landlords had recently had a run-in with the tenant when they tried to evict him.

Newshub.