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Queensland police say no body-worn camera footage captured the moment an Aboriginal man was fatally shot, despite more than 15 officers being present.
Family members of Aubrey Donahue, 27, say he was unarmed, holding a mobile phone and attempting to surrender to police when he was shot four times by tactical officers in the north Queensland town of Mareeba.
Police have alleged Donahue advanced at police while holding a knife.
Donahue’s family had been calling for the release of body-worn camera footage they hoped would show clearly what had happened on Saturday afternoon.
It is understood more than 15 police officers, including from the special emergency response team (Sert) were present at the Mareeba address when Donahue was shot. The Queensland government said last year “every officer” would be equipped with a camera.
On Tuesday the Queensland police service said there was no footage showing the moment of the shooting.
“Queensland police can confirm there is no body-worn camera vision available of the actual shooting of the male by police,” the statement said.
“All other available body-worn camera will be reviewed as part of the investigation.”
Acting Supt Kevin Goan, a senior Queensland police officer, had earlier told Donahue’s mother, Desley Ketchup, that the body-worn camera footage that had been taken had been handed over to investigating police.
A video posted to Facebook shows Goan speaking with Ketchup and others about four hours after the incident.
“All the video body-worn camera stuff that was taken, that has all been downloaded through independent senior detectives from Cairns who come up and make sure that is all available to go to the coroner,” Goan said.
A person asked Goan if police were “hiding stuff”.
“They can’t,” Goan said. “They are tamper proof, they cannot be interfered with.
“The coroner will know that. If anyone tried to, it would be discovered. That has all been seized by police.”
Concern about Donahue’s death in Mareeba has resulted in angry Black Lives Matter protests, and calls for an independent investigation into the circumstances.
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Ketchup told reporters at a protest on Monday that Donahue’s family had been kept in the dark by police.
“I want answers from the person who shot him, who had no fear of putting a gun on him four times,” she said.
“I want answers, why my son is dead from bullet holes … I just want the truth to come out.”
Family say their anger has been compounded by an information vacuum.
In a statement immediately after Donahue was shot, police said: “It is alleged the man advanced on specialist officers whilst armed with a knife.”
The president of the police union, Ian Leavers, subsequently told the Courier Mail that police “only acted when it was clear that the life of an innocent hostage was in jeopardy”.
Guardian Australia asked police on Tuesday about the justification for lethal force and whether the man had allegedly posed a threat to officers, or to a woman who was at the property.
Police said the matter remained under investigation but that “preliminary investigations indicate a female person was screaming for help, causing the police to immediately respond and the man presented a knife in close proximity to officers resulting in the man being shot by specialist police”.
“Inherent in any police interaction with the community, is the underlying risk that a situation may be immediately volatile, or rapidly escalate to a violent confrontation to which the officer must quickly respond,” Queensland police said.
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