<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>WARNING: This story contains an image of an Aboriginal person who has died.</span></strong></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The former police officer who fatally shot an Indigenous teenager in a remote community was racist, a coroner has found, and those attitudes were reflective of an institution which tolerated racism.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Kumanjayi Walker was shot three times at close range by then-constable Zachary Rolfe at a home in Yuendumu, 300km north-west of Alice Springs, in November 2019.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/erin-patterson-mushroom-poisoning-trial-verdict-update/931c6e69-9054-4bed-ab50-0af86c3e52d9"><strong><span>Patterson now faces a sentence of up to life in prison</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/darling-downs-zoo-queensland-woman-bitten-by-big-cat/c94d0a80-530c-4ce5-9c41-562caa77a07d" target="_blank"><strong><span>Zoo worker 'loses arm' after being 'grabbed' by big cat at Queensland zoo</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Today, coroner Elisabeth Armitage handed down her findings following a years-long inquest into Walker's death.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In handing down her findings, which spanned 600 pages, the coroner said she could not exclude the possibility that Rolfe's racist attitudes were a contributing cause of the 19-year-old's death.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/national/kumanjayi-walker--zachary-rolfe-family-of-nt-teen-shot-and-killed-by-cop-hopes-for-change/e9d65d41-e8f2-44d2-9402-f55d09d6f77f" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"That I cannot exclude that possibility is a tragedy for Kumanjayi's family and community, who will always believe that racism played an integral part in his death, and is a taint that may stain the NT Police," she said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Judge Armitage said Walker's death was avoidable and a case of "officer-induced jeopardy", a circumstance where an officer "needlessly put themselves in danger, making themselves and others vulnerable and creating a situation that justifies the use of deadly force".</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>But Rolfe was not just "a bad apple", Judge Armitage said, he benefited from working in an organisation with "the hallmarks of institutionalised racism".</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"His racist messages were not mere aberrations — they were, at least in part, reflective of a work culture that tolerated racism," she said, referring to texts sent between Rolfe and colleagues in the police force, littered with racist language.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/texas-floods-search-for-missing-girls-plows-forward-after-flash-flood-kills-at-least-people-in-texas/9da0f633-51b1-46f9-8b04-2e0c8ba86c6f" target="_blank"><strong><span>Texas flood death toll hits 70 as 21 children found dead</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The failure of the Northern Territory Police to properly supervise or "rein in" Rolfe's behaviour, including an attraction to adrenaline, a lack of discipline and contempt for authority and women emboldened his approach, the coroner said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The community is still grieving, with Walker's cousin Samara Fernandez-Brown saying his death has devastated the community.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"We miss him and feel his loss deeply every single day, it will stain our country for generations to come," she said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/sydney-man-killed-struck-by-bus-at-taronga-zoo/a059e633-1a7a-4e4d-a8b4-8e8870a3ff61" target="_blank"><strong><span>Tributes to 'extraordinary figure' in motorsport killed in bicycle-bus crash outside Taronga Zoo</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>13YARN 13 92 76, Lifeline 13 11 14</span></strong></div></div>