Friends raise funds for Myers Park shooting victim

David Cerven. Photo / Supplied

An online fundraising page has been set up to help the mother of the Slovakian tourist shot dead by police in Auckland's Myers Park this week.

David Cerven, 21, was shot dead on Sunday night after calling police to say he was wanted by police for three robberies and was in Myers Park. It is understood two armed officers opened fire on him because they thought he was carrying a firearm.

Yousuf Moghni, a friend of Cerven's who hosted him in Vancouver, Canada, has set-up an online donation page to help Cerven's mother keep her home in Slovakia.

According to Moghni, Cerven had taken out a $50,000 (€30,000) loan before arriving in New Zealand on a one-year work permit and was struggling to pay it back - and the outstanding sum has now placed the Slovakian home of Cerven's mother, Maria, in jeopardy.

Originally titled "Help David Cerven [sic] Mum Keep her home" the name of the page has been changed to "The Loan That Killed David Cerven".

The page aims to raise all $50,000, but has so far only raised two donations amounting to $800. One of those, a $500 contribution, is from Moghni himself, and the other $300 is from Renata Marko - a close family friend of Cerven.

"He took a 30,000 Euro loan and moved to New Zealand to be a labor [sic] worker," Moghni wrote on the page.

"The loan had a very high interest rate and David was struggling to pay it off. Cerven was depressed for not being able to support his family.

"All this lead [sic] to David's wrongest [sic] decision to steal $400 from the liquor store and a grocery store. After committing his last robbery, David called the police on himself and got shot in the park at the age of 21."