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 that tolerated racism.

Mr Walker was shot three times at close range by then-constable Zachary Rolfe at a home in Yuendumu, 300 kilometres north-west of Alice Springs, in November 2019.

On Monday, coroner Elisabeth Armitage handed down her findings following a years-long inquest into Mr Walker’s death.

In handing down her findings, which spanned 600 pages, Armitage said she could not exclude the possibility that Rolfe’s racist attitudes were a contributing cause of the 19-year-old’s death.

“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.

Armitage said Mr 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”.

But Rolfe was not just “a bad apple”, Armitage said. He benefited from working in an organisation with “the hallmarks of institutionalised racism”.

“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 between Rolfe and colleagues in the police force, which were littered with racist language.

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, Armitage said.

The community is still grieving, with Mr Walker’s cousin Samara Fernandez-Brown saying his death has devastated the community.

“We miss him and feel his loss deeply every single day, it will stain our country for generations to come,” she said.