A man has been charged with murder after a veteran police officer was shot dead on the job.

Tasmania Police Constable Keith Anthony Smith, 57, was killed on Monday as he approached a property in rural Tasmania to deliver a court-ordered home repossession warrant.

A 46-year-old North Motton man surrendered at the scene. On Thursday, he was charged with murder, attempted murder and aggravated assault.

He appeared before court in a bedside sitting while under police guard in hospital and will return to court at a later date.

Tasmania’s north-west community has been left reeling from the well-respected officer and passionate cyclist’s death. It is the first fatal shooting of an officer in the island state in more than a century.

Smith went to the house with another experienced frontline officer. A supporting team of three specialist operations group officers was stationed further away at the driveway when the incident occurred.

The alleged offender was shot in the hand by one of the specialist operations group and then surrendered, police said.

Commissioner Donna Adams thanked those involved in the ongoing investigation for their diligent work in difficult circumstances.

“The support our members have shown for Constable Keith Smith’s family and loved ones, and each other, is testament to the strength of our blue family,” she said.

She previously described Smith as a “respected and committed” officer whose loss will be deeply felt across the policing family and the wider community.

He had worked at the nearby Ulverstone Police Station for five years after joining the force in 2000.

Smith received the commissioner’s medal in 2011 and a 20-year clasp in 2021, as well as the national police service medal in 2016.

In 2005 he cycled through Tasmania to raise money for tsunami victims in Asia and in 2011 he rode a 420-kilometre mountain route for the Menzies Institute for Medical Research.

Police professional standards and the coroner are investigating the incident. Whether officers knew there was a gun at the property will form part of the probe.

-AAP