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The final moments in a shootout between police and gunman Stephen Hohepa McDonald, which left an innocent man shot dead, have been revealed.
A summary of facts about the day were read yesterday after McDonald pleaded guilty in the Auckland District Court to 23 charges in relation to the January 23 incident.
Courier driver Halatau Naitoko, 17, was killed by a police bullet to the chest after being caught in crossfire, as McDonald tried to hijack a truck.
The charges against McDonald include firing at police, possessing a firearm, aggravated robbery and unlawfully getting into a motor vehicle.
Speaking after the hearing yesterday, Mr Naitoko's mother, Ivoni Fuimaono, told The Dominion Post she desperately wanted to meet the officer who fired the shot that killed her son.
"He is the last person to see my grandson ... alive ... all I have to say to him, how he saw him ... when he shoot, how he reacted.
"Did he shake like a pig, or did he shake and was gone?"
In May, police decided no officers would be charged in relation to Mr Naitoko's death. The police summary of facts said police had chased McDonald across the city, stopping him on the motorway.
He had been firing from his cut-down .22 semi-automatic Ruger rifle. At one point he fired at the police helicopter.
On the motorway, McDonald got out and walked across lanes and stopped a vehicle driven by Richard Neville. When he could not get into the locked cab, McDonald climbed on to the truck tray.
Fearing he would shoot Mr Neville or take over the truck, two AOS policemen shot at McDonald.
He fired at both of them but lost his balance.
"One of the bullets fired by the AOS officers struck (McDonald) on the right side of his abdomen and he fell. He was then handcuffed and his firearm secured," the summary said.
"Another bullet fired by police as (McDonald) was falling to the deck of the truck, narrowly missed (McDonald), passed across the deck of the truck and through the open front passenger window of the Toyota courier van, striking Halatau Naitoko in the left chest and heart, killing him almost instantly."
At the hearing McDonald asked Judge Eddie Paul what was going to happen to the police officer who fired the fatal shot.
"I'm putting up my hand and taking responsibility for what happened that day. But what about the police officer who shot that kid?" McDonald said.
Judge Paul said he could not respond to that, and granted name suppression to the police officers involved in the shooting until sentencing on September 22.
McDonald was remanded in custody.