Auckland police shooting: Police community and country reeling after officer’s death
New Zealand’s police community has been left reeling after the first on-duty death of one of its own in more than a decade.
A police officer was shot and killed carrying out a routine traffic stop in the West Auckland suburb of Massey on Friday morning, in an incident that seriously injured another officer and a member of the public.
The officer, who had not been on the force for Waitemata District for long, lost his life in what Police Commissioner Andy Coster described as a “heartbreaking” incident which unfolded in the course of one of thousands of routine police call-outs every day.
“We are devastated to have lost one of our police family … [we are] in shock and in mourning.
The officer, who has not yet been named, was the 33rd to have been killed in New Zealand in the line of duty since 1890, and the first since 2009.
