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Greg O'Connor - Source: ONE News -
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An inquiry into the fatal shooting by police of a man near Napier will show the officers involved were "left with no option", the Police Association president believes.
Police say Lachan Kelly-Tumarae, 19, was shot after he fired a shotgun in Fernhill, about 18 kilometres south-west of Napier.
The shooting, in which an officer used a Glock pistol, brought the number of people fatally shot by police since 2000 to seven.
An Independent Police Conduct Authority inquiry and a homicide inquiry have been launched.
Greg O'Connor told TVNZ's News at 8 that "on the surface of it, it was a well justified shooting".
"I'm confident that a properly conducted inquiry, not the bits and pieces that get thrown together on a report which unfortunately is inevitable on a case like this, but a properly conducted inquiry will show that the officers were left with no option but to do what they do."
O'Connor said police were only justified in using lethal force if there is a "very immediate threat of death".
"I think when people know the full facts as the district commander said, they will understand that the police had no choice but to do what they did."
O'Connor said the Police Association's view was that all police should be armed.
"At least make firearms more available so that when situations like this arise, police are not only able to protect themselves but just as importantly able to protect the public."
O'Connor said it would take a person going on a "rampage" before the step was taken for police to be fully armed.
"We would like to see guns on all hips for frontline police officers but at least if the government is not prepared to go that far at least we need a gun in a lock box but even that, in many of these circumstances is simply not enough."
It emerged today that Kelly-Tumarae, of Flaxmere in Hastings, had only just moved to Napier to escape the aftermath of the Christchurch earthquake.
Eastern District Commander Superintendent Sam Hoyle said that "there are many questions we don't have the answers to at the moment and things will become clearer in due course".
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