![\"Police](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/police-at-the-scene-of-a-shooting-in-papatoetoe-Q2Y432MUKZGBJPBARKVUHF6SAY.jpg\")
<\/p>\nIn the early evening on an Auckland street where children had been playing and road workers were nearby, a 501 deportee stood in his bedroom shouting at voices no one else could hear, a sawn-off shotgun in his hand.<\/p>\n
By Tara Shaskey for Open Justice<\/p>\n
Before long, Tangaru-Noere Turia had pointed the weapon out of his window and fired a shot into the living room of the house next door.<\/p>\n
The gunshot shattered glass and punctured a television inside the home, sending those inside scrambling and prompting a 111 call that would escalate into an armed and fatal police response.<\/p>\n
Turia, a 34-year-old father of three, described by wh\u0101nau as a \u201cloving, caring, humble person\u201d, was shot three times by an Armed Offenders Squad (AOS) member within seconds of exiting his home on February 25, 2021.<\/p>\n
He died about two hours later in Middlemore Hospital.<\/p>\n
While the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) later ruled the shooting was unjustified, a coroner has now found Turia posed a \u201cvery real\u201d and high-risk threat, and less-than-lethal options were not available.<\/p>\n
Today, Coroner Erin Woolley released lengthy findings into the death of Turia, which considered his behaviour and mental health on the day of and leading up to the incident.<\/p>\n
It also examined the police response, policy and tactics, the management of Turia\u2019s deportation to New Zealand, and his mental health history and care oversight.<\/p>\n
Tangaru-Noere Turia was apparently acting erratically and brandishing a shotgun when he was killed. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n
Fatally shot by police<\/p>\n
According to the findings, Turia fired the shot about 5.45pm out of his bedroom window on Avis Ave, Papatoetoe.<\/p>\n
By 6pm, police had arrived and were in position and the Eagle helicopter was flying overhead.<\/p>\n
Officers watched as Turia, known as Noere, moved erratically inside, shouting, swearing and loading the firearm.<\/p>\n
Attempts by the police negotiation team to reach him by phone failed and a loudspeaker was set up outside, calling for him to come out unarmed.<\/p>\n
The use of the speaker further aggravated Turia, who reacted by yelling more loudly and pointing the shotgun out a window in its direction.<\/p>\n
Coroner Woolley found police could have better considered Turia\u2019s mental health before using the loudspeaker.<\/p>\n
Soon after, Turia came out of the front door holding the weapon and walked towards the speaker.<\/p>\n
The AOS member, positioned at the end of the driveway, told Turia to put his weapon down.<\/p>\n
About one second after the warning, the officer, referred to as Officer A in the findings, fired three shots, hitting Turia\u2019s abdomen and thighs.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Police at the scene of a shooting in Papatoetoe. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n
IPCA says shooting was unjustified<\/p>\n
After the shooting, the IPCA investigated the incident and found the initial police response was appropriate and well managed.<\/p>\n
But it also found the shooting was unjustified, raising concerns about the short time between the officer\u2019s warning and the shots fired.<\/p>\n
The IPCA\u2019s April 2023 report followed a police investigation into the incident, after which no charges were laid.<\/p>\n
This was because police could not rule out the officer had acted in defence of himself or others, and a conviction was unlikely.<\/p>\n
Coroner Woolley then held an inquest into Turia\u2019s death in September last year.<\/p>\n
Her findings emphasised her role was to independently examine the circumstances of the shooting, assess the circumstances leading to Turia\u2019s death, and identify any systemic issues that may help prevent similar deaths in future.<\/p>\n
It was not her job to cast blame or to determine whether a person was legally responsible, she said.<\/p>\n
Coroner Woolley found that when Turia emerged from the house carrying the shotgun, he posed a real and immediate risk of serious harm or death, and that the officer was confronted with a fast-moving situation in which there was little time to respond.<\/p>\n
\u201cNoere had in his possession a sawn-off shotgun, which is an extremely powerful weapon,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis behaviour over the course of the previous two to three hours had been unpredictable and irrational, and he could easily fire the shotgun in a fraction of a second.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Police](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/police-on-the-scene-on-the-night-of-february-25-2021-ZUJ7EQRGCZCGBNIHYYIKPSK3WY.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Police on the scene on the night of February 25, 2021. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n
Coroner says \u2018less than lethal options\u2019 unavailable<\/p>\n
She found it was \u201centirely plausible\u201d officers could have been hit if he fired in their direction, and said it was \u201chighly relevant\u201d that Turia had fired a shot earlier that afternoon for no reason and loaded the weapon again before leaving the house.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese were both factors known to Officer A and indicate a man who is both capable of firing the weapon and preparing to do so again.\u201d<\/p>\n
The coroner found that \u201cless than lethal options were not available or practical\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201c[Officer A] did not have a 40mm sponge round available to him and it was not an option to deploy the police dog against an armed offender.<\/p>\n
\u201cGiven none of these options were available, the only effective tactical option left available to him against an armed offender was his rifle.\u201d<\/p>\n
She found the officer did not have a predetermined intention to shoot Turia, pointing to his calling for him to drop his weapon, and that while the time the officer gave him to comply was minimal, it was acceptable.<\/p>\n
The officer had said in his inquest evidence that he gave Turia \u201cplenty of time to drop the firearm\u201d.<\/p>\n
Coroner Woolley found it difficult to accept that one second, based on her assessment of the footage, was \u201cplenty of time\u201d, but accepted it needed to be balanced against the high risk and danger to the life and safety of others.<\/p>\n
She did not disagree with Turia\u2019s wh\u0101nau that one second was a short period to expect a response, given his alcohol and drug-affected state, but described it as \u201cthe minimum amount of time that was appropriate to allow in the circumstances\u201d.<\/p>\n
Gaps in mental health care<\/p>\n
The findings also identified gaps and missed opportunities in Turia\u2019s mental health care, including a decision to discharge him from specialist services shortly after his release from prison custody.<\/p>\n
Turia had spent most of his life in Australia, where he accumulated a lengthy criminal history from his teenage years, including more than 40 convictions for offences ranging from theft to violence.<\/p>\n
In 2017, he was deported from Australia as a 501, leaving behind his three children.<\/p>\n
The coroner found his deportation had left him isolated and struggling to adjust to life in New Zealand.<\/p>\n
Turia also had a diagnosis of schizophrenia and a long history of drug addiction, including methamphetamine use, and had experienced repeated episodes of psychosis, often marked by paranoia and hearing voices.<\/p>\n
While he responded well to medication at times, he struggled to take it consistently, and his symptoms were known to worsen during periods of substance use.<\/p>\n
In 2020, after a period of escalating offending in New Zealand, Turia was charged with aggravated robbery and burglary and spent time in custody before being released on electronically monitored bail in December.<\/p>\n
After his release, he was referred to community mental health services and seen twice by a triage team before being discharged back to his GP.<\/p>\n
The decision was based largely on how he presented at the time, without full consideration of his history of psychosis, substance abuse, and previous risk of violence when unwell, Coroner Woolley found.<\/p>\n
![\"Tangaru-Noere](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/tangaru-noere-turia-T3GLM2HK7FCFFN4W7WZ6SAF5VU.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Tangaru-Noere Turia. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n
\u2018A loving, caring, humble person\u2019<\/p>\n
She described the decision-making as \u201cperplexing\u201d, noting there was no evidence Turia was actively engaged with addiction or mental health services.<\/p>\n
The coroner found no single service had overarching responsibility for his care, highlighting a lack of co-ordination between the services.<\/p>\n
As a result, there was no monitoring of his medication or mental state, and no opportunity to detect the relapse in psychotic symptoms that developed in the weeks before the shooting.<\/p>\n
The findings also noted Turia had previously felt \u201cbounced\u201d between services.<\/p>\n
The coroner found some form of follow-up may have assisted Turia and reduced the chances of his death.<\/p>\n
She recommended that people in similar circumstances receive at least three months of mental health follow-up after release from custody.<\/p>\n
Ultimately, her findings pointed to the fast-moving police response and gaps in Turia\u2019s mental health care, and how earlier intervention may have prevented the fatal outcome.<\/p>\n
Coroner Woolley concluded by acknowledging Turia\u2019s wh\u0101nau, especially his mother Moana Taverio, their grief and their wait for closure.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wish to also acknowledge Moana\u2019s ongoing care and dedicated support for her son, which included travelling to New Zealand to meet him at the airport when he was deported from Australia, something the Corrections staff said they seldom witnessed,\u201d the coroner said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis support was also evident throughout the inquest, not only from Moana but Noere\u2019s father, sisters and son.\u201d<\/p>\n
The coroner said Turia was a loved son, brother, father and friend.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Moana\u2019s words, Noere was \u2018more than the circumstances of this case. He was a loving, caring, humble person, and a unique soul who touched the lives of many\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the early evening on an Auckland street where children had been playing and road workers were nearby,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":435616,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[51,67,42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-435615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-auckland","tag-crime-and-justice","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=435615"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435615\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/435616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=435615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=435615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=435615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}