Independent Senator Lidia Thorpe says First Nations people have been treated with cruelty instead of care in the wake of the death in police custody of an Aboriginal man in Mparntwe/Alice Springs.

On Tuesday, a 24-year-old man from the Yuendumu community died after being restrained by police inside a Coles supermarket.

NT Police said he had been "involved in an altercation with a security guard" at the shopping centre in the CBD at around 1:10 pm.

According to NT Police, two officers were in the store and "restrained the adult male", but argued that a short time later, he "stopped breathing and CPR was commenced".

"St John Ambulance attended the scene, and the man was conveyed to Alice Springs Hospital, where he was pronounced deceased shortly after 2:20 pm."

It was reported the man was disabled and under state guardianship, with Senator Thorpe saying, "He was hungry, and he needed care".

"Instead, he was met with brutal force," the Senator said.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the National Network of Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls condemned the police response, with abolitionist Debbie Kilroy noting: "He was under state guardianship—under the care and protection of the Minister. And it was the state that killed him."

"This was a lethal police intervention—one that reflects the everyday brutality of policing in this country," Ms Kilroy said.

Data shows there have been at least 593 Indigenous deaths in custody since the 1991 Royal Commission. Currently, no person has been found guilty.

Thirty people have died in custody so far this year in Australia—eight of them Indigenous people.

"We demand justice. We demand answers," Senator Thorpe said.

"And we stand with community in calling for truth, accountability, and change."

The man's death comes during Reconciliation Week and almost five years to the day since George Floyd Jr.'s death in the United States in police custody, which sparked worldwide outrage and protest in a fact not lost on Senator Thorpe.

"Yet despite countless recommendations, inquiries and promises, our people continue to die in custody," she said.

The Gunnai, Gunditjmara and Djab Wurrung woman said First Nations people have called for an end to violence for decades and have called for "justice, accountability, and care instead of cruelty".

"But still, our voices are ignored," she said.

"This is not an isolated tragedy — it's part of a brutal pattern where our people die at the hands of police and in prisons. We won't stop speaking out until it ends."

NT Police confirmed that body-worn camera footage from the man's death had been secured and it was now being investigated by the Northern Territory Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC).

Assistant Commissioner Travis Wurst said the investigation would be led by a police commander from Darwin "to ensure it's done independently and transparently".

As with any death in custody, a coronial inquest will also take place.

Assistant Commissioner Wurst told ABC Radio Alice Springs on Wednesday the man was known to police and his family had been notified "to make sure that they're aware of the situation and circumstances as best as we can tell them at this stage".

"We also understand that he was living in Alice Springs but originally came from a remote community within Central Australia," he said.

The Assistant Commissioner warned against "misinformation and negative media reporting," arguing: "The last thing we need here is misinformation creeping into the media that is really unhelpful."

"We need to make sure we've got community safety being managed and that the community and the family particularly are being supported," he said.

The ABC reported community events in Yuendumu on Wednesday were cancelled due to Sorry Business.

The town has already seen tragedy between First Peoples and the NT Police, after the shooting of 19-year-old Warlpiri-Luritja man Kumanjayi Walker in 2019 by former NT police officer Zachary Rolfe.

Mr Rolfe was found not guilty on all charges in 2022.

The long-awaited findings into the inquest of Kumanjayi Walker, which has heard accounts of police racism and violence, are due to be handed down by Coroner Elisabeth Armitage on June 10 in Yuendumu.