Sunday mornings on Sydneys Freshwater Beach are a rowdy affair. Hundreds of children and teenagers descend down the dunes and wade into the water, competing in swim-and-run races as part of Australias junior surf rescue training program. With coffees in hand, parents look on and cheer. Race organizers keep control with bullhorns and whistles.

This week, however, the beach hosted a silent vigil for Justine Damond, the 40-year-old yoga instructor who was shot, unarmed, by a police officer in Minneapolis last Saturday. Damond lived around the corner from the beach, known locally as Freshie, until she moved to the U.S. in 2015. More than 300 friends and family members attended the vigil, where candles were lit and someone played a didgeridoo against the backdrop of the crashing surf.

Australians have been aware of Americas police violence problem a grotesque collision of the nations fixation on guns and its overdependence on police enforcement since protests erupted over the killing of Michael Brown by police officer Darren Wilson in 2014. The tragedy in Ferguson, Missouri, made international headlines.

This week, however, Americas problem became Australias problem, too.

In the United States, police shootings of unarmed civilians have become so frequent that a week without a highly publicized incident feels like the exception to a rule. More than 540 people have been shot by police in 2017, and its barely mid-July. In Australia, police shootings are exceedingly rare: Between 2007 and 2011, in a nation of about 24 million, police shot and killed 14 people.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull called Damons killing shocking and inexplicable. She was shot by Minneapolis officer Mohamed Noor, a Somali-American who has been on the force for two years. She reportedly called 911 late at night to report a possible sexual assault, and was talking to Noor and his partner when Noor fired at her out of the car window reportedly, he was startled by a sudden noise and feared an ambush, perhaps an armed one.

How can a woman out in the street in her pyjamas seeking assistance from the police be shot like that? Turnbull asked, in an interview with Australias Channel 9. We are demanding answers on behalf of her family. In Australia, the story has been front page news all week, the headlines roaring with outrage and incomprehension.