A Northern Territory policeman has been charged with murder over the weekend's shooting of a teenage Aboriginal man.
Kumanjayi Walker, 19, died after he was shot at Yuendumu, 300 kilometres from Alice Springs, on Saturday night when two police officers went inside a home to arrest him for breaches of his suspended sentence.
A vigil in Alice Springs for Kumanjayi Walker, shot in the Northern Territory by police.Credit:Zach Hope
A 28-year-old police officer had been charged with one count of murder, Northern Territory Police said in a statement on Wednesday night.
Northern Territory Police acting deputy commissioner Michael White said on Sunday the man was shot after he lunged at police while armed with a weapon. One of the officers was injured in the incident.
Witnesses to the shooting have told The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald that they saw a wounded Mr Walker, whose first name is not used for cultural reasons, being dragged out of the home by his legs and thrown into the back of a police van.
One community member said a police officer was holding a gun and warning people not to come near or they would also be shot.
Mr Walker's aunty, Senita Granites, said she came back from a funeral service on Saturday and saw her nephew who "looked happy". "Thirty minutes later I heard the gunshots," she said. "I wake up in the night. I can't sleep. Everyone here in Yuendumu couldn't sleep, cause what the police done to us."
Attendees at the vigil for Kumanjayi Walker in Alice Springs.Credit:Zach Hope
Senior Walpiri man Ned Jampijinpa Hargraves said he felt "more relief" upon hearing the police officer was charged with murder.
"This is history," he said. "We've done it, Walpiri have done it. I'm smiling now. It's safer for the children, I feel awesome, really great," he said .
"We'll keep fighting. Thank you for all the cities supporting, we couldn't have done it without your support."
Kumanjayi Walker's death has become a flashpoint for Australian race relations and the servicing of remote communities.
The clinic had closed the previous day because of break-ins and anti-social behaviour, meaning there was no health staff in the community to come to Mr Walker's aid.
An ambulance arrived from a neighbouring community at least an hour after the shooting, but some in the community say it was more than two hours.
Rallies were held across Australia in the four days since the shooting, including in Canberra, Darwin, Melbourne and Sydney.
Protests in Sydney's CBD over the shooting of an Indigenous man in the Northern Territory.Credit:Ben Grubb
In Alice Springs on Wednesday night, several hundred people staged a peaceful candlelight vigil in the green space between the police station and the Supreme Court, by far the town's largest building.
Several bus loads, including close family, had come in from Yuendumu and surrounding communities.
News of the murder charge was announced over the microphone about 7.30pm local time to rapturous cheers and clapping.
Senior Warlpiri man Robin Granites said another rally in Alice Springs on Thursday morning would be respectful.
"We want to show the non-Indigenous just how sorry we feel," he said. "It's not coming from our voices, it's coming from our heart. It's not to rubbish the law of the white people, but we want to show you mob what we're feeling," Mr Granites said.
"Non-Indigenous want to go around banging things, that's their business. We're here as cultural people doing it our way, in mourning ceremony."
Police in Yuendumu, who feared community reprisals, have come under fire for not informing members of the family that Mr Walker had died until the following morning. Several white people who spoke to The Age said they were told of his death on the same night as the shooting.
With an influx of community members in Alice Springs, some bottle shops are closing early for the rest of the week and are restricting their sales.
The move has been criticised as racist by some and responsible by others, including community members.
More than 500 people marched in a protest in Sydney on Wednesday that began at Town Hall and stalled with a sit-in at the Surry Hills Police Centre about 8.30pm. A NSW Police spokeswoman said no incidents were reported.
Activist Elizabeth Jarrett, right, at the protests in Sydney's CBD.Credit:Ben Grubb
Activist Lizzie Jarrett was protesting in Sydney when the murder charge was announced and said it was “history in the making”.
“We are going to take this as the win it is. Of all the hundreds of Aboriginal deaths in custody, we’ve never had anyone charged with the actual crime they committed. Today is a first for our people but I can guarantee it will not be the last,” she said.
Community members and family of Mr Walker called for an "independent investigation" in the aftermath of his death and requested to see police bodycam footage from Saturday. They also asked the Northern Territory Police to leave the community.
In their statement on Wednesday night, the Northern Territory Police said: "As this matter is before the court, no further information will be released".
Natassia is a journalist for The Sydney Morning Herald.
Ben Grubb is a Desk Editor/Locum Homepage Editor for The Sydney Morning Herald.
Zach is a reporter at The Age. Got a story? Email me at zach.hope@theage.com.au
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