Papatoetoe fatal shooting: Resentment brews on social media on alleged police high handedness
The identity of the person fatally shot by the police in Papatoetoe late last night has been revealed on social media with many mourners resenting against the alleged police high handedness.
A member of the community Neil Patel had put up a Facebook post questioning the alleged highhandedness in police response that resulted in the person with a machete being shot twice just after 1 a.m. Monday, April 20.
Since then the Indian Weekender has spoken with a cousin of the deceased person, also living in South Auckland who told that the deceased move to Auckland from Perth, Australia, over a year and a half ago. He has a daughter and is separated from his wife and do not live with him. He was living with his partner at the time of getting shot. (Read in detail here).
The cousin of the deceased person Rajiv Raja had posted an obituary on his social media post confirming the identity of the deceased.
However, notably, another unrelated person, Neil Patel has sparked some emotions by putting a brazen post that raises a question on seemingly high-handed police response to a situation - that was far less threatening - to justify the use of firearms.
The social media post read - “Another Indian guy shot twice to death in Papatoetoe. Police with unjustified reasons for shooting to kill than to taser or fire to warn. Christchurch terrorist was never shot or tasered at. Explains a lot how different coloured criminals are dealt with in NZ. About time OUR COMMUNITY seeks answers.”(sic)
The post was preceded by another related comment that said, “Question is why the gun and not a taser. He was only smashing windows of cars and not causing anyone bodily harm. Had he hurt someone intentionally would have made sense for any police to shoot at him. Seems like a biased act from the police. On the other note, the white supremacist was never shot or tasered at when he killed 51 people in Christchurch, sounds like a lot of non-white people are killed in the first instance than those who are white. Police in NZ will NEVER be investigated, that’s how thing roll here. Raises eyebrows, especially when he is shot TWICE.”(sic)
The ensuing debate beneath this social media post by several members of public shows that the views and opinions were divided on both sides.
Arif Ali raised aspersions on Police actions saying, “Agree on Police actions. It is questionable. My concern is the mental health of the victim. Escalated by this lockdown. He needed help more than he needed a bullet. This is not the first case of such for police but definitely a first how it ended. We are staying home saving lives while police are out there taking them.”(sic)
Another member of public (on social media) seem to support the argument by commenting “Self defence is not excessive force reasonable force police could have done a warning shot than shoot on the leg or something this wasn’t reasonable force this was excessive force cop should be stood down and sent back for training and have strict investigation if it was other race it might not have been dealt like this.”(sic)
However, not everyone agreed with the alleged racist rant of Mr Patel and came up with a spirited defence of the police.
Isaac Micheal Mclaren commented, “Neil Chand your statement is very bad toward the police. The Christchurch shooter surrendered once surrounded by the police and arrested. The man shot in Papatoetoe was asked to stop and put his machete down and then decided to ran at the police and was shot.
"If someone broke into your house with a weapon, would you fight them to scare them off or fight them to kill them? You would fight them to kill them because your life is at risk because they have a weapon that could kill you. The police have approached a man brandishing a machete and have asked him to put it down he has refused and run at the police, so he has been stopped end of story stop trying to stir racist b#*#*#*t,"(sic) Issac's comment said.
New Zealand Police has been approached for a comment and a response was awaited at the time of publishing of this story.
The identity of the person fatally shot by the police in Papatoetoe late last night has been revealed on social media with many mourners resenting against the alleged police high handedness.
A member of the community Neil Patel had put up a Facebook post questioning the alleged highhandedness in...
The identity of the person fatally shot by the police in Papatoetoe late last night has been revealed on social media with many mourners resenting against the alleged police high handedness.
A member of the community Neil Patel had put up a Facebook post questioning the alleged highhandedness in police response that resulted in the person with a machete being shot twice just after 1 a.m. Monday, April 20.
Since then the Indian Weekender has spoken with a cousin of the deceased person, also living in South Auckland who told that the deceased move to Auckland from Perth, Australia, over a year and a half ago. He has a daughter and is separated from his wife and do not live with him. He was living with his partner at the time of getting shot. (Read in detail here).
The cousin of the deceased person Rajiv Raja had posted an obituary on his social media post confirming the identity of the deceased.
However, notably, another unrelated person, Neil Patel has sparked some emotions by putting a brazen post that raises a question on seemingly high-handed police response to a situation - that was far less threatening - to justify the use of firearms.
The social media post read - “Another Indian guy shot twice to death in Papatoetoe. Police with unjustified reasons for shooting to kill than to taser or fire to warn. Christchurch terrorist was never shot or tasered at. Explains a lot how different coloured criminals are dealt with in NZ. About time OUR COMMUNITY seeks answers.”(sic)
The post was preceded by another related comment that said, “Question is why the gun and not a taser. He was only smashing windows of cars and not causing anyone bodily harm. Had he hurt someone intentionally would have made sense for any police to shoot at him. Seems like a biased act from the police. On the other note, the white supremacist was never shot or tasered at when he killed 51 people in Christchurch, sounds like a lot of non-white people are killed in the first instance than those who are white. Police in NZ will NEVER be investigated, that’s how thing roll here. Raises eyebrows, especially when he is shot TWICE.”(sic)
The ensuing debate beneath this social media post by several members of public shows that the views and opinions were divided on both sides.
Arif Ali raised aspersions on Police actions saying, “Agree on Police actions. It is questionable. My concern is the mental health of the victim. Escalated by this lockdown. He needed help more than he needed a bullet. This is not the first case of such for police but definitely a first how it ended. We are staying home saving lives while police are out there taking them.”(sic)
Another member of public (on social media) seem to support the argument by commenting “Self defence is not excessive force reasonable force police could have done a warning shot than shoot on the leg or something this wasn’t reasonable force this was excessive force cop should be stood down and sent back for training and have strict investigation if it was other race it might not have been dealt like this.”(sic)
However, not everyone agreed with the alleged racist rant of Mr Patel and came up with a spirited defence of the police.
Isaac Micheal Mclaren commented, “Neil Chand your statement is very bad toward the police. The Christchurch shooter surrendered once surrounded by the police and arrested. The man shot in Papatoetoe was asked to stop and put his machete down and then decided to ran at the police and was shot.
"If someone broke into your house with a weapon, would you fight them to scare them off or fight them to kill them? You would fight them to kill them because your life is at risk because they have a weapon that could kill you. The police have approached a man brandishing a machete and have asked him to put it down he has refused and run at the police, so he has been stopped end of story stop trying to stir racist b#*#*#*t,"(sic) Issac's comment said.
New Zealand Police has been approached for a comment and a response was awaited at the time of publishing of this story.
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