WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this story contains images of a person who is deceased.
The family of an Indigenous teenager killed by a Northern Territory policeman have spoken about the fear and terror they felt the night he was shot.
Warlpiri man Kumanjayi Walker, 19, died on November 9, 2019, after Constable Zachary Rolfe, 31, shot him three times in Yuendumu, 290km northwest of Alice Springs.
His cousin, Samara Fernandez-Brown, told an inquest into his death in Alice Springs on Monday that the "wails of my family's cries" after they learned Walker was dead still haunt her.
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"Kumanjayi died … I'd imagine he was in pain. He was scared and he was robbed of comfort," she said in reference to her cousin dying behind locked doors on the floor inside Yuendumu police station.
"His family gathered only metres away from him, yet we were all robbed of the opportunity to say goodbye."
Ms Fernandez-Brown said her family were afraid and hurting in the hours after the shooting.
"In the dark, we waited, pleaded for answers, begged for the smallest of information. We got nothing."
Warlpiri elder Ned Jampijinpa Hargraves was also in Yuendumu the night Walker was killed.
"There was a loud bang … of a gun," he said.
"We had to gather all our children and protect them and later we went to the police station and … we asked the question: 'Is he alive'?" he said.
"There was no answer … we were terrified (and) the whole community shattered … completely terrified."
Senior Walpiri elder Robin Granites said although Walker died almost three years ago "it feels like it happened yesterday.
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"We will never be able to understand the feeling of hopelessness, fear and hurt that we carry because of this injustice," he said.
"The pain we feel is real … We fight for Kumanjayi and we will never stop fighting for justice."
He asked for the court to listen to the Yuendumu community's voices and for the coroner's recommendations to be actioned.
"We are here to speak the truth … This cannot be the moment in time for papers to be left unread. Recommendations cannot be ignored," he said.
"For this change to happen we need to be part of the outcome. We need to lead them because we know what's best for oI rur community."
Coroner Elisabeth Armitage acknowledged the suffering Walker's family and the Warlpiri community had experienced, and asked people involved in the inquest to keep an open mind.
"At the start of this inquest I ask myself this question: Do I know the story of Kumanjayi Walker and Constable Zachary Rolfe? Do you?," she said in her opening.
"I am inviting everyone to look a little deeper and listen a little longer because I think there is more to learn from and more we need to try and understand about this story."
The three-month hearing will explore the actions of police before and after Walker was killed and how his death has affected his community.
It will also probe whether Mr Walker received adequate medical treatment after Rolfe fired into his torso from close range as the pair and another officer scuffled inside the teen's grandmother's home.
The teen had stabbed the officer in the moments before and threatened two other policemen with an axe three days earlier as he escaped being arrested and fled into the bush.
He died about an hour after Rolfe's second shot ripped through his spleen, lung, liver and a kidney.
Rolfe was acquitted at trial in March of murdering Walker, igniting grief and anger in Yuendumu, with some community members decrying the justice system as racist.
The hearing continues.
