Halatau and the police?

Just wondering what everyone's thoughts are on 17 year old Halatau and the police shooting.

I have to say it's a tricky one. My first reaction was anger that the police had done this, but then I tried to put myself in the shoes of the AO squad and then it became a far more complicated situation. Obviously the Police officers wouldn't have wanted to shoot him and I can't imagine they would have fired if they new he was in their line of fire, but how did it happen?

I really feel for his poor family and it blows me away everytime I see his mother on the news saying she doesn't blame anyone. That's one tough lady. I wonder how she's going to feel about the whole thing once the shock wears off. Not to mention the poor lady is due to give birth today.

I also feel its very hard to answer. It was an accident and people do have to accept (in time) that but it doesn't make it any easier for either the officer or the family.

I would be more angry at the offender, they are the reason why this all happened.

Its like something out of LA, not Auckland!

I feel very sorry for Halatau's family, the police officer and their family because they all have to live with this.

IMO it was tragedy and the only person that should shoulder the blame is the asshole that was on the run brandishing a rifle, if it weren't for him this sad and tragic accident wouldn't have happened.

It's awful that Halatau's 3 kids will grow up without their Dad.

Edited by MrsMojo

I didn't hear about the mc.  What I read was that he has a 2yo and his wife is due with twins next month.  Maybe the mc was last Christmas.

It's just a miserable situation all round. I totally agree that it's the idiot with the gun's fault. I feel dreadful for th poor man's family, and for the police involved.

I just hope the media doesn't thrash the police too much. I'm sure they feel dreadful enough already.

Unfortunately, this kind of thing is a police officers worst nightmare...

I pretty much echo what you ladies have already said, it is a *huge* tragedy for all involved...

DH on the other hand *sigh*

I feel so sorry for the families of all involved and I hope that they are all getting the support that they need! I cannot begin to imagine how hard it would be for Halatau's family

I've just seen a picture on the Herald website which shows where everyone was when the shooting happened, for me it makes it easier to understand.
NZ Herald Link

I feel so sad for his family, what a terrible tragedy.

I also feel for the officer involved as this will change his life and he will never be able to forget it. Having said that, he/she is trained to perform a task, and given the proximity of the officer to the offender, I struggle to see how a 'stray bullet' should have hit any bystanders. If that was even a threat, the officers should have been firing from a different direction to avoid an incident like this.

Unfortunately its one of those things where we don't know all the details and probably mistakes were made and shots shouldn't have been fired so close to the other victims, but at the time they did what felt right in the interests of other citizens and capturing the offender. I just wish the person that was dead, if anyone had to die, was the offender (even though everyone would probably kick up a big fuss about that if it happened, as they have done before).

DH's parting words on the matter was that the AOS isn't that highly trained and only train to shot to kill at 20 metres, the CTAG (arm of the SAS that does urban stuff in Auckland) would have had no issues.

I also heard that their defence started with saying he can't remember anything that happened on Friday. I'm sorry but being drugged up is not an excuse, I think you should get an even harsher punishment for being stupid enough to do drugs like that in the first place. The world is full of idiots and this is just another one that has wrecked the lives of many innocent people.

I agree with those who said about the flippen idiot who went on a drug fueled speeding trip through town with a gun should be the one to be angry at! He put everyone in danger i guess it was luck that more people were not hurt imagine the mess he could have made. "he is suffering" oh please! what a load of crap im sure he/lawyer will say anything at the moment!
Anyway the poor AOS guy who made the shot i feel for him and his family i did hear on the news this morning that it was a clear shot but then the driver of the truck slammed on his breaks to try get the idiot who was pointing the gun at him off his flat deck and thats when things turned wrong.
I also feel for the boys family it must be very hard for them i hope they get the support they need.
Having been to a few AOS call outs its not a nice situation to be in you have no idea what is going to happen and it all changes so quickly.