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A murder investigation was launched after a New Zealand-born police officer was shot and killed in England.
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New Zealand-born Sergeant Matt Ratana was weeks away from retirement when he was assassinated in the UK. Source: 1 NEWS
Sergeant Matiu Ratana, known as Matt, was killed by a man who was detained in Croydon, south London.
It is understood that the suspect was being searched and subjected to a Covid-19 test, before allegedly producing a weapon and shooting Ratana in the chest before pointing the weapon.
Ratana, 54, was treated at the scene, but later died in hospital from gunshot wounds.
His death has shocked the police community.
“We are all deeply shocked and saddened. The Met is a family. The police are a family, within London and across the UK, and today we are all mourning a great loss,” said the Met Police Commissioner, Cressida Dick.
“I visited and spoke with the partner of our officer along with other colleagues. We are giving her the best support we can. My condolences to her, her family,” he added.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson took to social media to tweet his condolences.
Ratana was only a few weeks away from retiring.
Originally from Hawkes Bay, he was educated at Palmerston North Boys’ High School and had a passion for rugby.
At the University of Otago, he played rugby for the Ravensbourne RFC club in Dunedin’s main competition.
In 1989 he traveled to the UK where he played for the London Irish RFC and over the years played for various West London clubs before becoming head coach of the East Grinstead RFC.
When contacted by 1 NEWS, a spokeswoman for the club said she was not in a position to comment.
“Met Police have told us not to comment, but once the officer is named, the club will issue a statement on our website.”
A Linkedin profile shows that Ratana graduated from Massey University. He was also well known to the local Croydon community and local Labor MP Steve Reed said that Ratana was proud to be a Kiwi.
“I knew it was a kiwi, it would be hard not to know. He came here and he was taking care of this community and we knew him as one of us and he’s gone and we’re devastated.”
He added, “This was someone who was known in this community, he was a coup officer in this neighborhood, known as someone who was very warm, very kind, very caring, and the fact that people knew him so well has made all get lost. ” the most devastating and painful.
“This is not a statistic or a number, it is a human being who cares about the community. So the pain is immense.”
Flags outside various police stations are flown at half mast.
This type of incident is very rare in the UK, and the official one is 17th of the Metropolitan Police being fatally shot since WWII.
A 23-year-old suspect is in critical condition.
