Man shot by police in NT community

A WITNESS has told of how she saw a 19-year-old man allegedly being thrown onto the bed before three gunshots went off and he was shot by police in Yuendumu

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A man has been shot by NT Police in a remote community.

Police reported about 8.30pm on Saturday night they were responding to a critical incident in the community of Yuendumu where a man had been shot by police.

The man was 19-year-old Kumanjayi Walker and family members spoke to the Centralian Advocate about 1am on Sunday morning.

They were waiting outside the Alice Springs Hospital, were angry, and said they had not been told of his condition, over even if he was Alice.

Mr Walker was shot about 5pm, and police said on Facebook about 7.30pm he was in a critical condition.

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

The NT News has been told the man was allegedly acting aggressively towards staff at the community’s health clinic before he was shot.

In a video posted to Facebook, dozens of people can be seen milling around the community’s police station shouting.

Yuendumu is about 300km north west of Alice Spring. Picture: Bess Price

The person holding the camera says “ … f**king police shot an innocent man”.

The man claims the person was shot “while he was sleeping” and says it took the ambulance “three hours” to arrive in the community after the shooting.

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

Locals described to The Australian seeing police cars speeding through the community, about 300km northwest of Alice Springs, shortly after some residents had been to a funeral.

“They came with two police cars; one parked on the other side of the house,” Elizabeth Snape, who said she witnessed the incident, told The Australian.

“They questioned me, asked me where he was. They found him there; they put him in against the front door, but the wall part.

“He tried to fight off their restraints, and they hit him. He was hit and thrown onto the bed, and that’s when the three gunshots went off.”

She told the paper she saw officers “drag” the man out after he had been shot.

Warlpiri artist and Yuendumu resident Otto Jungarrayi Sims described the shooting as a scene reminiscent of the USA. Picture: Amos Aikman

Otto Sims, an artist and respected community figure, also told The Australian, locals were outraged.

“It’s terrible, It’s like straight out of black negro America,” Mr Sims said.

“Going about town like that shooting black men in the 21st Century is not on.”

The news was initially shared on the NTPFES Facebook page. People claiming to know the shot man responded, demanding to know why family members had not been allowed inside the Yuendumu Police station to see him.

“Why can you post this on Facebook but not come outside and let people know how he is?” one commenter wrote.

Yuendumu is about 300km north west of Alice Springs.

“This young man has already suffered so much so much in his life. Let family in to see him,” another said.

NT Police Association president Paul McCue said the union would offer support to affected members.

“The Police Association are aware of an incident there and we’re heading there offering assistance on the ground.”

Yuendumu Police Station.

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

Riots were a common occurrence, during the long-running and bloody feud between two warring families.

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In an incident in 2012, a young man was beaten so severely he was almost scalped during a melee involving up to 70 people.

At the height of the violence in 2010, dozens of people took to the street armed with nulla nullas and makeshift weapons and cars were set alight.

Police took the extreme step of issuing a warning to would-be travellers to the town to stay away.

But in recent years, relative calm had been restored.

Further updates will be provided once they become available.