Uproar after Indigenous man is shot and killed by police
A 19-year-old indigenous man has been fatally shot by police in a remote community in the Northern Territory after he allegedly lunged at an officer.
Kumanjayi Walker was killed at Yuendumu, 300km away from Alice Springs, at around 7pm Saturday evening after two police officers went to the property to arrest him.
"During that time a struggle ensued and two shots were fired and he sadly passed away later," Acting Deputy Commissioner Michael White told reporters on Sunday.
The teen’s heartbroken family have since slammed police for their actions.
“To be honest, police should not be shooting anyone. That’s wrong. We still don’t know what is happening right now, this is f****d up,” a cousin of the deceased told NT News.
According to the NT News, Walker’s family was not told of his death for hours after the shooting was first reported.
“The distraught family members of a young man who was shot by police in Yuendumu today are still waiting for to hear about his condition,” tweeted NT News journalist, Natasha Emeck.
“A large group have spent hours outside the police station waiting for an update.”
The deputy commissioner has insisted the teenager lunged at one officer as the pair attempted to arrest him.
"My understanding is he was armed with a weapon," he said.
The 19-year-old was on parole, which he had breached and a warrant had been issued for his arrest, Mr White told reporters.
After the shooting, police provided first aid to the victim as there were no medical staff in the community at the time, the deputy commissioner said.
The medical staff had left the community after a series of break-ins and an ambulance from a neighbouring community was called to attend the scene.
The distraught family members of a young man who was shot by police in Yuendumu today are still waiting for to hear about his condition. A large group have spent hours outside the police station waiting for an update. @TheNTNews pic.twitter.com/8g6LUc5Sk9
— Natasha Emeck (@tashemeck) November 9, 2019
An officer's shoulder was wounded during the incident, the commissioner said.
The shooting is being treated as a death in custody.
"I'm sad about my grandson," grandmother Monica Robinson told the Centralian Advocate.
"I was getting phone calls from all my family but I don't know what the police did," she told the newspaper.
A coronial investigation will be undertaken and the body was taken to Alice Springs.
Fewer than 800 people live in the Yuendumu community.
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