A man shot by police in an Auckland park exchanged more than 100 frantic texts with his girlfriend in the hours before the shooting as she pleaded with him not to harm himself, a coronial inquest has been told.
David Cerven was unarmed when he was killed at Myers Park on August 2, 2015.
At the inquest at Auckland District Court, Detective Sergeant Andrew James Saunders said the 21-year-old had money issues, and was wanted over three aggravated robberies in Auckland.
Friends and colleagues of Mr Cerven said in the days leading up to his death he became increasingly concerned about paying back a large debt in his home country, Slovakia.
He said his mother had taken out a loan to pay for some medical treatment on his knee.
On the day Mr Cerven was killed, he sent texts to his girlfriend telling her he loved her, that he had been to church and that he would go to heaven.
He then called police, asking officers to meet him at Myers Park to discuss the robbery of a liquor store.
An acquaintance was worried he would try to get the police to kill him, because he was Catholic and wouldn't want to take his own life.
When officers arrived at the scene they said Mr Cerven wouldn't listen to their instructions and said he had a gun.
They said when Mr Cerven took his hands out of his pockets, clasped them and pointed them at two police officers, they fired and killed him.
The inquest was then shown CCTV footage of the incident overlaid with radio communications between the police officers attending the incident.
A grainy Mr Ceven appears to be shown in the distance with police flashlights on him, before a female officer radioed in "shots fired, shots fired" followed by a call for an ambulance to attend.
Mr Cerven was struck three times, in the jaw, the leg and the abdomen.
Police who examined the scene later did not find a weapon.
Coroner Katharine Creig has described the incident as a technical suicide.
Mr Cerven was a successful kick boxer and was in New Zealand on a working visa.
SHARE ME