25 Oct 2013

Family not satisfied by report on police killing

11:47 am on 25 October 2013

The family of a 19-year-old killed by police is describing a report on conduct of the officers involved as contradictory and say it raises more questions about what happened.

Lachan Kelly-Tumarae was shot at 14 times by an officer after pointing a shotgun at him in Omahu, near Hastings, in 2011.

An Independent Police Conduct Authority report says that although the shooting was justified, the officer who fired the shots and the other officers involved did not comply with policies such as having clarity about who was in charge.

Mr Kelly-Tumarae's grandmother, Narina Tumarae, says it's good to have something in writing that highlights where police went wrong.

"Why would they want to park right next to Lachan anyway, realising that he had a shotgun in his car? "There's so much silly things that they've done, so much blunders, and it just makes me wonder if those last crucial minutes were how they say they were."

Ms Tumarae says her whanau is waiting for an inquest before deciding whether to take legal action against police.