WA premier calls for calm after alleged intruder dies following altercation with homeowner

A 20-year-old man has died in hospital following an altercation with a homeowner during what police say was a home invasion in Western Australia last week.

Authorities called for calm in Kalgoorlie today as Tyrone Smith's family demanded transparency in the police investigation into his death.

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Smith died in Royal Perth Hospital after he was seriously injured when confronted by a homeowner on Kenneally Place in Boulder, a suburb of Kalgoorlie about 550 kilometres east of Perth, on Friday.

"I did not sleep for three days straight hoping my son would wake," mother Kathleen O'Loughlin said today.

Police say Smith was armed with a machete and wearing a balaclava.

They said the matter was still under investigation and a file was being prepared for the coroner.

Premier Roger Cook urged the community to not "jump to conclusions" and asked residents to let police investigate the incident.

"I understand it occurred as a result of a home invasion and it was a very violent set of circumstances that then followed," he said.

"I urge everyone please do not jump to conclusions. Do not raise anxiety in the community.

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"This is a police matter, let the police get on and do their job."

Cook said the circumstances of the home invasion were still unclear.

He said everyone had the right to defend their homes but "they don't have the right to do so in a way that is unnecessarily violent" or to "take the law into their own hands".