Slain officer was to be best man

Colleague honoured: Duty Officer Gary Cowan, of the Richmond Local Area Command, lowers the flags outside the Lismore Police Station to half mast in honour of Const William Crews.

Jacklyn Wagner

SLAIN Sydney police officer Constable William ‘Bill' Crews was due to stand beside best mate, Nathan Tolley, as best man at his wedding in Clunes tomorrow.

That was until he was tragically gunned down in the line of duty on Wednesday night.

The childhood friends spent last weekend together at Mr Tolley's bucks' party and, according to relatives, were excited about this weekend's North Coast celebration.

Mr Tolley, an Inverell school teacher, and his wife-to-be Tegan Peters, both attended Southern Cross University between 2004 and 2007, deciding to return here to marry.

Mr Tolley, who played first grade rugby league for Marist Brothers in Lismore for four seasons, was still in shock at the loss of his best mate yesterday and reluctant to talk.

“Mate, to be honest, I'd like to keep things to myself and the family at the moment, just out of respect,” he said.

“I appreciate what you're doing, but at this stage I wouldn't really like to make too much comment.”

Yesterday, both families were still coming to terms with the tragedy, but were planning to go ahead with the nuptials, at a Clunes resort, in honour of Const Crews.

Const Crews, 26, received a fatal head wound during a drug raid on Wednesday night at Bankstown, in Sydney's south-west.

Two men have been charged over his death and two guns seized.

Philip Nguyen, 55, was released from Bankstown Hospital yesterday to face court, charged with six offences, including shooting at Const Crews with the intent to murder. Bail was formally refused.

Geehad Ghazi, 27, was charged with possessing an unregistered and unauthorised firearm.

Const Crews' father, Kelvin, was a police officer at Glen Innes until he retired in 2000. His brother, Ben, is also an officer in Sydney. He has two sisters, Rebecca and Kate, and mother Sharon.

Glen Innes police sergeant Laurie Cattell worked with Const Crews' father and remembers the Crews as a great family.

The father of one of Const Crews' best mates told the Glen Innes Examiner he was a ‘genuinely nice guy'.

NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione said the entire NSW Police Force was in shock, as flags were lowered to half mast at police stations around the country yesterday.

Richmond commander, Superintendent Bruce Lyons, extended the entire area command's thoughts and prayers to Const Crews' family and said it was a sad day for police and a reminder of how dangerous policing was today.

“Each time a police officer straps on their gun at the beginning of a shift, there is always that fear of being put in a situation where your life is on the line simply because you're trying to make the community safer,” he said.

A visibly upset NSW Police Association president and close friend of Const Crews, Sgt Scott Webber, was on the scene for most of the night and said police would be there in strength for the family long into the future.