Mounties were justified when they fatally shot a suspect who was allegedly holding a woman hostage on the side of a Leduc County highway in 2022, Alberta’s police watchdog has concluded.
The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) is not recommending charges against the two RCMP officers directly involved in the fatal Oct. 10, 2022, shooting near New Sarepta, nor the RCMP officer who fired at the same suspect hours earlier at a gas station in Ardrossan.
The officers “were lawfully placed and acting properly in the execution of their duties. There is no evidence to support any belief that any officer engaged in any unlawful or unreasonable conduct that would give rise to an offence,” ASIRT wrote in its report released Thursday.
“The force used was proportionate, necessary, and reasonable in all the circumstances.”
ASIRT says the first police interaction with the suspect began that morning at 3:10 a.m. when an officer spotted a stolen BMW parked at a gas station in Ardrossan, in Strathcona County. The police watchdog says the suspect discharged a weapon, and the officer returned fire, hitting the vehicle in the rear passenger door.
That evening, at 5:32 p.m., police were told the same BMW was “driving erratically” and entered a ditch on Highway 21. Two officers arrived to find two men and a woman near the vehicle.
Alberta’s police watchdog says one of the officers “exited his police vehicle armed with a patrol carbine, and yelled at them that they were under arrest and directed the three people to get down.” Two witnesses – a man and a woman – complied but the suspect did not, ASIRT says.
“Both officers observed (the suspect) remove a shotgun from the duffle bag and then moved to where (the woman) was kneeling,” ASIRT continues, adding a third officer then arrived on scene.
ASIRT’s report details how the suspect then allegedly pointed the shotgun at the woman’s head, threatened to kill her and said he was “not going back to jail.” He then discharged the shotgun, ASIRT says. The woman was not injured.
Two of the officers then fired at the suspect “multiple times,” fatally striking him twice in the torso. An autopsy later revealed he had fentanyl, methamphetamine and other drugs in his system.
Authorities say the suspect had a lengthy criminal record; was wanted on a warrant for failing to comply with conditions of a release order; had 35 outstanding charges before the courts; and was prohibited from possessing a firearm.
ASIRT’s investigation benefited from in-car video footage of the fatal shooting, as well as interviews from the subject officers and civilian witnesses.