HE WAS the easygoing country lad who always dreamed of following in his father's footsteps and becoming a police officer.
And just six weeks after he joined the NSW Police Force's Middle Eastern Organised Crime Squad, William Crews had already shown himself to be a rising star.
''He was a natural. Will turned up at our shop and he just hit the ground running,'' a senior officer with the squad told the Herald.
''He had a huge potential as an investigator, he had a really good way of dealing with people, really easy to speak to, he was good at speaking with criminals. He was just an easygoing farm boy. What you saw was what you got.''
But on Wednesday night, just after 8.30, it all went horribly wrong for Constable Crews and his seven colleagues. What should have been a routine drug bust at a Bankstown unit turned into a gun battle that led to the death of the detective in training from Glen Innes.
The officers were given no intelligence about the risk of firearms - and the suspects were armed. In a horrible irony, after the dust settled, police found no drugs.
A critical incident investigation team, lead by the homicide squad, will now investigate Constable Crew's death.
A 55-year-old man, Philip Nguyen, has been charged with shooting with intent to murder and discharging a firearm with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. Geehad Ghazi, 27, has been charged with possession of an unauthorised firearm.
But no-one has been charged with murder, raising speculation as to whether the bullet that killed Constable Crews came from the gun of a civilian or a police officer.
Police are keeping an open mind on whether the bullet that killed trainee detective William Crews came from the gun of a civilian or a police officer, New South Wales Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione says.
Mr Scipione said it was too soon for police to draw conclusions at this stage.
"We're still keeping an open mind, certainly the investigation, the critical investigation, continues to seek answers to a raft of questions over the shooting death of Constable Crews," Mr Scipione told Fairfax Radio this morning.
"That investigation will take a little while. We are not going to jump to any conclusions. We just need to let the process take its course."
The NSW Opposition Leader, Barry O'Farrell, renewed his call for mandatory life sentences for offenders who murder police officers. The Premier, Kristina Keneally, said existing punishments were sufficient.
As officers approached the property on Wednesday night, their target, Philip Nguyen, 55, was standing near a garage and allegedly began firing at the officers, who in turn fired back. In what witnesses say was a brief shootout Constable Crews was struck in the head and neck.
''The boys are pretty shaken up, they watched it, they saw him go down. They couldn't even get to him because the bloke was still firing,'' one officer said.
Another fellow officer spoke in glowing terms of Constable Crews's actions in the moments before he was hit. ''He stood his ground, mate. He stood his ground and fired back at him.''
The 26-year-old was rushed to Liverpool Hospital but died just after midnight yesterday only days before he was to be best man at friend Nathan Tolley's wedding in Lismore.
The two mates grew up in Glen Innes and Mr Tolley's mother last night told the Herald from her property near the northern NSW town that she wasn't sure if the wedding would still go ahead.
''We just don't know what's going on at the moment. It's just all too awful. I don't really want to comment, everybody is just so upset,'' she said.
Constable Crews graduated into the police force in 2007. His father, Kelvin, was a long-serving policeman in Glen Innes until retiring in 2000 and his brother, Ben, is an officer in Sydney. His mother, Sharon, is a preschool teacher and he has two sisters, Rebecca and Kate.
Before his move into the Middle Eastern Crime Squad six weeks ago, Constable Crews had worked as a general duties officer in Campsie.
The Herald understands police attended the apartment block in Bankstown on Wednesday night after receiving intelligence reports about a Vietnamese man holding a large amount of drugs, which he was supplying to at least two of Sydney's most notorious Lebanese crime families and their south-western Sydney drug operations.
They had received no intelligence that suggested Mr Nguyen, or another man with him at the time of the raid, 27-year-old Geehad Ghazi, were carrying firearms. Police now allege both men were armed and yesterday they charged each with firearm offences. Mr Nguyen has also been charged with shooting with intent to murder Constable Crews. No murder charge has been laid. Mr Scipione said this was not grounds to speculate it was an accidental shooting.
The two accused appeared separately before Bankstown Local Court yesterday where neither applied for bail. Mr Nguyen had earlier been released from Bankstown Hospital with facial injuries, with his lawyer, Ronnie Naidoo, telling the court his client had suffered a swollen left eye and cheekbone and a grazed nose.
Police documents given to the court said Mr Nguyen had self-administered a prohibited drug.
The documents also revealed that he has previously been convicted for selling drugs.
A neighbour, Diana Aydenoski, 27, said that since she moved to the area five months ago police had been called three times to the apartment block where Constable Crews was shot.
The last police officer shot dead in NSW was Constable Glenn McEnallay, who died following a pursuit on April 3, 2002.
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