He was given immediate medical attention but died at the scene.
Police said Fakalago was “aggressive erratic and yelled abuse at them” as well as being unsteady on his feet, possibly due to intoxication which was later proven, as Fakalago had a high level of alcohol in his bloodstream.
Wellington District Commander Superintendent Corrie Parnell said police must make fast decisions to keep people safe, and the decision to use lethal force is not one that officers ever want to use.
“I am confident the officers involved took the only option available to them in the circumstances to ensure the woman’s safety and prevent further harm.”
The woman at the centre of the police standoff told the Herald at the time she was traumatised by seeing her partner, Fakalago, shot in front of her.
“The bullet went straight past my ear,” she told the Herald.
She disputed the police account and told the Herald on Sunday she never felt unsafe with Fakalago, whom she described as a “loving dad” and a “great partner”.
“He was trying to barricade the house because of course he didn’t want to go back to jail,” she said.
Police said a child at the address managed to escape, but the woman said she had sent her 4-year-old daughter out of the house because she was afraid police would shoot while she was still inside.
“She didn’t see anything, what scared her was the police.”
The woman said Fakalago, who had diagnosed mental health issues, began having a mental breakdown when police arrived.
“He had grabbed the back of my top and kind of pulled it back and that’s when they shot him.”
Court documents obtained by the Herald reveal that last year Fakalago attempted to obtain bail to the Newlands home of the same woman who would go on to watch him die.
The documents also shed light on the reason he was back before the courts last year, four months after being granted parole following another sentence for violent offending.
An Auckland judge last year kept him locked up in part because of his history of “bullying and rageful behaviour” toward women in many of his 46 convictions.
Fakalago was a father of several children, and an associate of the King Cobras gang, who spent much of his early years in state care.
He has a history of violence against his partners and a lengthy list of convictions.
In February last year, he was nearing the end of another leg at Rimutaka prison.
The sentence came following convictions for aggravated assault, threatening to kill or commit grievous bodily harm, obstructing the course of justice and intentional damage, for which he received three years and eight months.
Vita Molyneux is a Wellington-based journalist who covers breaking news and stories from the capital. She has been a journalist since 2018 and joined the Herald in 2021.
