Shooting of Steven Wallace - what the police say

The official police report on the shooting of Steven Wallace in Waitara in the early hours of April 30 gives graphic details of confrontation that led to the 23-year-old's death. ALISON HORWOOD reports.

As fatally injured Steven Wallace gasped for air and struggled to get to his feet, the police gunman returned his Glock pistol to its holster and reached for his cellphone.

Within two minutes of hitting Wallace's torso and arms with four rounds from his pistol, the constable stood on McLean St, the main street of Waitara, and telephoned two armed offenders squad colleagues for support.

Wallace was still moaning as the constable stood metres away and woke the first police officer with a 4.10 am call.

"I have just shot someone," he said, struggling to speak from the shock.

"Who is it?" was the response.

"[Mistaken identity]."

"Is he dead?"

"No, but he could die."

"Where are you?"

"Waitara main street."

"Stay there. I will get there as fast as I can."

"Okay."

The constable hung up and phoned a second colleague, telling him "he was coming at me. I had to shoot him."

The constable, who had been in the armed offenders squad since 1986, and the men he telphoned were involved with a gang shootout incident at the Moturoa Postbank in 1991.

In his police statement, the constable said: "I was seeking support from them. I have never shot anyone before."

These details were made public yesterday in a 180-page police report into the fatal shooting of 23-year-old Wallace, a local sportsman and lapsed Victoria University student, early on April 30.

The investigation concludes that the officer - known as Constable A - acted lawfully in self-defence and will not face charges.

The report says that on the evening of April 29, Wallace watched a Hurricanes rugby match on television before going to The Mill, a New Plymouth nightclub that he often visited.

Friends said Wallace - who "liked a few" - was drinking handles of beer and appeared to be in a good spirits.

One said: "When he wasn't drinking he was a brilliant person. But when he had been drinking he was scary. Nobody could talk to him, he appeared to be in a world of his own."

Some time around 3 am, Wallace left The Mill and drove his car about 15km to the family home in Waitara.

Neighbours were woken to the sound of screeching tyres and yelling outside the house.

Said one: "I got up out of bed thinking that [names deleted] were watching a violent movie on TV. This was around 3 am or 3.10 am.

"I looked out the window and saw Steven hitting their shed with his golf club. He was yelling and swearing at himself.

"His mother was standing at the ranchslider and I could hear her saying, 'Calm down, Steven, calm down, don't worry about it, come inside'."

The report says the Wallace family had no idea what made Steven so agitated when he arrived home between about 3 am and 3.40 am.

Police say their investigation also did not discover what triggered his rage.

Whatever the reason, the conflict was too much for some relatives at the house. Two female adults and two children left the family home in the early hours to stay with another relative.

When they turned up on the relative's doorstep, one said: "Steven has lost it again ... gone quite mad."

Another was so worried about Wallace "hurting his father" that she returned home and found he had driven off again.

Wallace had departed with a screech of brakes and driven to Waitara's main street, where he embarked on a vandalism spree, smashing 140 windows in 10 buildings.

He drove around town at up to 100 km/h in a 50 km/h zone, the car stereo thumping. His tyres were flat, and at times on the wrong side of the road.

Constable A and two officers - Constables B and C - from New Plymouth were called when neighbours reported hearing yelling and windows being shattered at the police station, fire station, New World Supermarket and other buildings.

A dog handler was also alerted but did not reach the incident before the shooting.

In his statement, Constable A, who describes himself as Maori, said he finished night shift at 11 pm and went to bed. He was woken up by a callout around 3 am.

Dressing in plain clothes, he took his personal cellphone and a long baton and drove to the main street.

From his car, he saw Wallace smashing windows. He went to the police station and took a Glock 9mm pistol from the arms cabinet.

He also took a holster and one magazine of ammunition, and put on a duty belt, which contained handcuffs and pepper spray.

Constable B, who was also getting a firearm at the station, commented that he thought Wallace was mad.

The pair drove back to McLean St and got out of the vehicle.

Only 64 seconds elapsed between the two leaving their car and Wallace being shot.

In his statement, Constable A said Wallace was "very angry."

He was yelling and swearing, and began advancing towards Constable B.

He held a baseball bat and a golf club in his hands.

The constable called out, thinking Wallace was another man he knew from baseball and his neighbourhood.

"I actually called out his name - 'What's going on [name], can we talk'?"

Wallace then turned on Constable A, advancing on him and throwing the golf club.

He said Wallace was holding the baseball bat with both hands, advancing towards him with "big, long strides" and making threats.

Constable A was retreating backwards towards the shops. The gap between them was around 20m.

Constable A fired a warning shot into the air, but Wallace kept advancing, Constables A and B said.

Constable A told him he would shoot if he came any closer.

"I was shouting these words, there was no doubt he heard what I was saying."

The constable said the gap closed to 10 metres and he "genuinely feared for his life."

Wallace was still holding the baseball bat above his head and speaking in a threatening manner. He could smell alcohol on him.

"Then I fired three shots. I shot instinctively at the offender. It was dark. There were just three shots in his general direction. They were three shots in rapid succession."

[Ballistic evidence showd he also fired a fourth, which passed through Wallace's body.]

"The offender fell to the ground slowly. He tried to get up and flopped back down on the ground, several times.

"He was moaning. I could not understand what he was saying."

Constable A said he made the phone calls to his colleagues for support.

He was struggling to speak because he was in shock.

During that time, Wallace was "obviously in pain" but managed to get to his feet before falling down again.

The constable did not say anything to him.

The postmortem report concluded "death was a result of a gunshot wound to the abdomen ...

"The injuries to the liver caused by the gunshot wound were extensive and death from them was inevitable despite first aid resuscitation and subsequent surgical intervention."

Toxicology test found Wallace had no drugs in his system, but had more than twice the legal blood alcohol level for driving a vehicle.

Constable A's statement concludes: "At the time I shot the offender, I did not consider I had any other options available to me to defend myself.

"I was in fear of my life and he left me with no alternative but the one I took."