Briefing to Armed Offenders Squad 'inadequate' in fatal shooting, IPCA finds

The police conduct watchdog says officers were justified shooting Tex Witika more than two years ago, but poor management contributed to the chaotic stand-off.

Tex Witika was killed after shooting three officers with a shotgun in West Auckland on 29 November 2021.

Police had been called to a house fire on Danube Lane in Glen Eden where gunshots had been heard and surrounded the house.

A team of three Armed Offenders Squad officers entered the house through a cramped hallway in a single-file line, planning to use non-lethal sponge rounds to subdue Witika.

When the officers saw Witika ready his shotgun, they fired multiple shots. Witika then shot at the officers, knocking the first backwards and injuring the others.

An officer watching the situation unfold from the cordon also shot Witika, who died at the scene.

The Independent Police Conduct Authority said the officers who shot Witika were justified using lethal force.

But it said the incident controller did not provide the Armed Offenders Squad with an appropriate briefing because they were overstretched.

"The pressure on [the incident controller] to undertake both tactical and operational-level decision-making resulted in an inadequate briefing to the AOS team leader," the report said.

"The incident lacked the benefit of a decision maker who was sufficiently removed from the immediate threat to be able to objectively consider the facts and provide sound guidance."

Police acknowledged the report's findings and said the use of lethal force was a last resort.

"The decision to use lethal force is not something our officers ever want to do and is a last resort," Waitematā District Commander Superintendent Naila Hassan said in a statement.

"I am very confident the officers involved took the only option available to them under the circumstances to prevent further harm."

She said police would learn from the IPCA's findings regarding the command and control of the stand-off.