Peter Skeen was running away when Const Shannon Chmielewski fired final shot, court hears

Warning — distressing footage: A witness told the court he saw Peter Skeen, who has pleaded not guilty to assaulting the officers, ‘turn to run away’ before he heard the second shot.

Peter Skeen had his back to police and was running away before constable Shannon Chmielewski fired the sixth and final shot from his Glock at him, a court has heard.

Skeen faced the first day of his trial in the Darwin Local Court on Tuesday after pleading not guilty to assaulting Constable Chmielewski and Senior Constable Maree Scott in Gray in March 2022.

The 21-year-old also pleaded not guilty to going armed in public after allegedly threatening the two officers with spears during an unrelated domestic violence call-out on Victoria Drive.

In giving evidence, witness Robert Lewis told the court he saw Skeen “lunge forward a little bit” at around the time he heard Constable Chmielewski fire the first shot.

“When I heard the first shot was after he just lunged and I only seen a slight reaction from the young man, it wasn’t like bent over or kicked back or anything, it was just like a bit of shock,” he said.

“That’s when I seen him drop the weapon, almost throw it down to the ground and turn to actually run away, that’s when I heard the second shot.

“He ran directly away from the police so he was actually facing away from the police going that way and that’s when I heard the two more shots.

“That’s when the young fella was still running, the police actually moved towards him, that’s where they kind of went out of our view a little bit.”

NT Police constable Shannon Chmielewski (centre) said he was ‘in fear of my life’ when he shot Skeen in 2022. Picture: Jason Walls

Under cross examination by Skeen’s lawyer, Clancy Dane, Mr Lewis agreed he had told officers at the time Skeen had “got his back to them” before the final shot was fired.

“You watched this event in real time, is that right, and your recollection, having watched it in real time, was that shots were fired into the back as he was moving away?” Mr Dane asked.

“Yep,” he replied.

Earlier, Constable Scott told the court she was “petrified” when Skeen had raised the spears at her before “his focus has shifted towards” Constable Chmielewski.

“He would lift the spear and put it back down, at times when he was coming he would speed up and do like a skipping motion as if he was going to throw it, and then he would go down, and all the time he’s coming directly towards me,” she said.

Constable Scott said she drew her taser while Skeen continued to advance on her partner “until he was basically directly over him” but “he didn’t show that it was successful”.

“After I’ve deployed my taser he’s still over the top of Shannon … no more than three metres (away),” she said.

“(Then) I heard the shots from Shannon’s gun.”

The trial will continue on a date to be fixed.

Emotional cop tells how he feared for his life before shooting teenager

An emotional NT Police officer has recalled how it took “several seconds to realise what I’d done” after he shot an “angry” teenager who confronted him armed with two spears.

Peter Skeen, now aged 21, pleaded not guilty in the Darwin Local Court to assaulting Constable Shannon Chmielewski and Senior Constable Maree Scott and going armed in public following the incident in Palmerston two years ago.

In Constable Chmielewski’s body-worn camera footage played to the court on Tuesday, the officer can be heard saying “we need assistance on Victoria Drive, we have a male with two spears coming towards us” after responding to an unrelated domestic violence incident in Gray.

Skeen is seen in the footage advancing towards Constable Chmielewski while he yells “drop the spears, no, no, no, no, no” and repeatedly yells “drop it” before firing five shots in quick succession followed by a sixth about a second later.

“Shots fired, shots fired, shots fired, Victoria Drive, we need help, oh f — k,” he says.

“Call an ambulance, we just shot a bloke, call an ambulance.”

In his evidence, Constable Chmielewski told the court he and Constable Scott were following a trail of blood believed to be associated with the DV incident when two men pulled over to report a young man “running around with spears, causing some dramas”.

“They went to drive off, as they did that I looked up and I heard a male yelling and screaming, coming from the Victoria Flat’s area,” he said.

“I yelled out to Maree and we could see that he had spears in his hand, he started heading towards the direction of Maree.

“He was being very vocal, very angry voice, yelling screaming, I can’t recall what he was saying but it was just very loud and angry, he had two spears in his hands, one in his left, one in his right.”

Peter Skeen was rushed to hospital after being shot by Constable Shannon Chmielewski in Palmerston in 2022. Picture: Jason Walls

Constable Chmielewski said when he first saw Skeen the spears were “down by his side” and he was heading towards his partner “at a quick walking pace” but when “he directed his anger towards me”, “the feeling was this is not going to be a good day”.

“As he was yelling and moving close to me, I continually was giving him directions to drop the weapon, he raised his right arm with the spear and cocked it back.”

Becoming visibly emotional, Constable Chmielewski said it was then while “in fear of my life” that “I drew my firearm and I shot him”.

“I think for a few seconds I was in a, how do I put it, I was in a shit situation, it was like it took my mind several seconds to realise what I’d done, I holstered my firearm, there was a car coming past and I just yelled at the car to call an ambulance,” he said.

He said Skeen turned and ran away so he followed him to where he fell to the ground and an off-duty paramedic helped apply first aid until an ambulance arrived.

Under cross examination by defence lawyer Clancy Dane, Constable Chmielewski said he didn’t draw his taser “because he was coming towards me with a lethal threat”.

“I drew my firearm, that was a decision I made in a split second,” he said.

“So you went to the instrument that you had that was capable of lethal force?” Mr Dane asked.

“Yes, that’s correct, because I had lethal force coming my way,” he replied.

“Did you hear him at one point, just before you fired, yelling ‘Shoot me, shoot me’?

“No.”

The trial before judge Ben O’Loughlin continues on Tuesday afternoon.