Mum of Kaoss Price killed by ‘unjustified’ police shooting says officer ‘needs to be held accountable’

The family of the Taranaki man found to have been the victim of an unjustified police shooting say they want to know if the officer who fired the fatal shot has been involved in other incidents.

“The cop needs to be held accountable like any one of us would be,” said Price’s grandmother Margaret Kennard.

She, Kaoss Price’s mother Jules Hana and longtime friend Stevie Apiata spoke to the Herald in the wake of the release of an Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) report which was critical of the fatal shooting.

Price was shot from three metres away and killed in April 2022, just a month after being released from prison.

The IPCA found that the police dog handler’s decision to shoot Price was not justified and that a Taser should have been used. Police had previously found the shooting to be justified.

Price had rammed a dog handler’s van on State Highway 3 to the east of New Plymouth and was running from police after the car he used in the attack wouldn’t drive.

Jules Hana, mother of Kaoss Price, at her home in Bell Block, New Plymouth. Photo / Mike Scott

The fatal shot was fired as Price wrestled for control of a car he had entered through the driver’s window. The driver was partly under him with another person in the passenger seat. The IPCA found using the Glock firearm posed an “unacceptably high” risk to the other occupants of the car.

Kennard said she was pleased the shooting had been ruled as not justified but was deeply disappointed the IPCA recommended no charges be laid.

“He should not have shot my grandson. He didn’t need to die.”

Kaoss Price was shot and killed by police in April 2022.

Kennard believed the report showed that the two officers in the dog van had armed themselves with pistols before their evening’s work because of Price.

The IPCA report found there was concern among police in the month since Price was released from prison after he was linked to firearms and had evaded police in vehicles.

However, the IPCA said the officers did not notify police communications, as required, that they were armed with pistols.

Kennard said she believed the officers’ actions in arming themselves before leaving the police station showed the officers were “looking for Kaoss”.

Hana said she was only beginning to come to terms with the IPCA’s finding the shooting of Price was unjustified.

She said the name of the officer who fired the fatal shot was well-known among her community and those who knew Price.

Hana said the knowledge of the officer’s name had connected with the experiences of others who had encountered him. She said she had hoped the IPCA would have reviewed how he had responded to other, similar, incidents.

She said she was concerned that the pistol was the officer’s chosen response when there was a Taser and a police dog available.

In New Plymouth with the ashes of Kaoss Price are his father Leigh Price, Stevie Apiata and Kaoss' siblings Chelsea Price, 14, and Saint Justice Price, 3. Photo / Mike Scott

Asked about Price’s clashes with the law – and access to firearms – she said too much had been made of a young man who was in a gang where there was an expectation to “present yourself”. That meant living the life, such as the half-face tattoo he received after leaving prison and wearing a patch.

“He wasn’t a menace to society. He wasn’t what police and reporters said he was.”

Apiata told the Herald she and others close to Price had twice marked his anniversary at the place he was shot.

“We were celebrating his life.” There were drinks, and, as Hana said, “a few laughs, a few cries”.

Kaoss Price’s father, Leigh, is currently in prison. At his sentencing, he told the court he had “forgiven” police for killing his son and instead blamed himself.

The IPCA report said Price was a patched Nomad gang member with more than 30 convictions including theft, car conversion, assault, burglary and driving offences.

There were alerts in the police database warning that Price had carried knives and firearms and had previously escaped custody. It was believed by police Price began criminal offending again in the month after he was released from prison.

In that time, the IPCA said police had received information he had a firearm and was suspected of having stolen a ute and not stopped in driving incidents involving a BMW.

David Fisher is based in Northland and has worked as a journalist for more than 30 years, winning multiple journalism awards including being twice named Reporter of the Year and being selected as one of a small number of Wolfson Press Fellows to Wolfson College, Cambridge. He first joined the Herald in 2004.

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