Family of shot Yuendumu man stand vigil outside Alice Springs Hospital

A 19-YEAR-OLD man shot by police at a remote community has died.

The family of a man shot in Yuendumu outside Alice Springs Hospital. Picture: Emma Murray

• How Jurrah lost, then found, his way
• Jol talks on early days at Yuendumu
• Politicians challenged to make a difference
• Yuendumu football back with a bang

A 19-YEAR-OLD man shot by police at a remote community has died.

Acting deputy commissioner Michael White will address the media at 9am to discuss the incident.

Chief Minister Michael Gunner and Deputy Chief Minister and Police Minister Nicole Manison will also address the media at 11am.

The family of the man shot by police said last night they had not been told if he was alive or dead over eight hours after the shooting was reported to have happened.

The members, who spoke to the Centralian Advocate before 1am, were standing outside the Alice Springs Hospital waiting for information on the 19-year-old Warlpiri man who family have asked not to be named for cultural reasons.

Police reported about 7.30pm was in a critical condition.

It is believed he was shot about 5pm, with one witness describing what she saw, saying he was shot on his bed.

Family members question a police officer at the Alice Springs Hospital, hoping to find out if the man was still alive. Picture: Emma Murray

Family said it took about three hours for an ambulance to reach Yuendumu. Picture: Emma Murray

A Royal Flying Doctors Service plane left Yuendumu at 11.05pm, approximately six hours after the incident occurred. It’s still unclear whether the deceased was on the plane, and his family are still in the dark.

“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,” cousin Cyan Presley said.

“Police have kept it a secret.”

By 1pm family members had been at the hospital for three hours and did not know if the man had actually been brought from Yuendumu. Picture: Emma Murray

A snap action has been called with people to protest the shooting on the lawns of the Alice Springs Courthouse on Sunday.

Family said it took about three hours for an ambulance to reach Yuendumu from another community after he was shot.

They had been standing patiently outside the Alice Springs Hospital for over three hours, waiting for answers, by about 1pm.

A police officer’s face is visible through a hole in the Yuendumu station fence after the shooting. Picture: Facebook

“I’m sad about my grandson,” grandmother Monica Robinson said from Kintore, a small Central Australian community.

“I was getting phone calls from all my family but I don’t know what the police did.

“(People are) really angry, we saw on Facebook what happened to him. People were just standing outside shouting.”

Police have not commented about why it took so long to get medical treatment nor why or in what circumstances the man was shot.

It seems the police officers took the man to the police station and locked themselves in.

Local Member of the Legislative Assembly, Scott McConnell told the ABC there were no medical staff on the ground.

Yuendumu, a town of less than 800 people 300km north west of Alice Springs, was a hotbed of violence from 2010 to 2012.