The family of courier driver Halatau Naitoko say they want to meet the policeman who fired the shot that killed the innocent teenager.
Mr Naitoko, 17, died from a bullet to the chest after being caught in a shootout between police and gunman Stephen Hohepa McDonald in Auckland on January 23.
McDonald, 50, yesterday pleaded guilty to 23 charges in relation to the incident on the North-western Motorway, which followed a police chase.
The charges included firing at police, possessing a firearm, aggravated robbery and unlawfully getting into a motor vehicle.
McDonald was remanded in custody for sentence in the High Court at Auckland on September 22.
A spokesman for the Naitoko family, Peter Sykes, said family members felt relief over guilty pleas because it meant they could begin getting further information about exactly what happened.
He said police could make details of their internal inquiry available to them, something that would have continued to stay on hold if the case had gone to trial.
In May, police told the family that no one would be charged over Mr Naitoko's death, but not the reason for the decision.
Mr Sykes also said the family wanted to meet the officer who fired the fatal shot.
Name suppression has been granted to the police officers involved in the shooting until McDonald's sentencing on September 22.
"Pacific Island and Tongan culture says it's face to face, and that's about healing as well as the humanity of just acknowledging each other's grief," he said.
"As Halatau's grandmother said, he's probably having the same nightmares as she is. A young man died. Our minds can justify that to some extent but it's not an easy justification."
He said the decision about a meeting would be a personal one for the officer, as police could not require him to see family.
"At the moment, anonymity is part of him being able to get on and do his job," he said.
"There is also a fear that he will be labelled and unjustifiably victimised by people who are less understanding or have few of the facts."
Mr Sykes said the family's attitude to police over Mr Naitoko's death was "ambivalent".
They could understand that the officer who shot Mr Halatau had been called out as part of his job, but they were concerned as to why the officer was put in that situation.
They queried why something hadn't been done earlier to avoid a shootout, although "in hindsight we can always ask that question".
As for McDonald, Mr Sykes said the family saw him as the person who was responsible for the incident.
"The police weren't the ones standing on the back of the truck pointing guns and firing guns. It was him."
