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Alberta’s police watchdog has deemed two RCMP officers’ use of force as “proportionate, necessary and reasonable” in relation to an officer-involved shooting in 2018 that killed a robbery suspect.
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RCMP were on scene at a home on Frog Lake First Nation for nearly 11 hours on July 19, 2018, attempting to arrest a 40-year-old man wanted in connection to a robbery. Mounties said the man refused to exit his uncle’s home, sparking the standoff which culminated in two officers discharging firearms.
Investigators recovered a .22 sawed-off rifle at the scene, which is believed to have been used by the man to shoot one round at officers prior to the police use of force, which is detailed in the decision of the executive director of the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) issued on Wednesday.
According to the decision report from ASIRT executive director Michael Ewenson, when officers arrived on scene, the suspect’s uncle confirmed he and his girlfriend, who is referred to as the civilian witness, were inside the home.
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The suspect warned officers he was armed and that he wanted them to enter the house for a confrontation and he made multiple remarks implying he wanted to “take out a cop.”
The RCMP Edmonton Crisis Negotiation Team (CNT) was also called to the scene to negotiate with the suspect. Negotiations included dropping a mobile phone off at the residence to facilitate negotiation talks, however, the man threw multiple phones away from the home, said ASIRT.
RCMP were at the residence around 9:45 am and the Emergency Response Team (EMT) arrived around 3 pm due to equipment difficulty and assumed responsibility for containment of the residence. Two officers from the EMT unit are the subject officers in the report.
The officers involved were reportedly in the bushes along the side of the driveway, about 100 meters from the home when the incident occurred. At 8:58 pm, the suspect was at the front window and pointed a rifle out of the window, and according to multiple witnesses detailed in the report, he fired a shot.
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Both officers provided statements to ASIRT, one stating the deceased waved a firearm toward him and other police positions and then pointed the firearm down the driveway toward the two officers and fired a single shot. The second officer involved said the man waved the firearm at their position three times and shot in their direction on the third wave.
ASIRT said no shell casing was found in the area, however, there were four cartridges in the magazine and a fifth in the chamber of the gun that could hold up to 10 cartridges.
The driver of the RCMP tactical armored vehicle and the civilian witness also said the suspect opened fire.
“The subject officers, fearing for their lives, each responded with a single shot. One of these shots killed the affected person. Their uses of force in response to the affected person firing in their direction were proportionate, necessary, and reasonable, and the defenses provided by s. 25 of the Criminal Code therefore apply to the subject officers,” reads the decision.
The report said the officers were reasonably acting in self-defense and there are no reasonable grounds to believe either officer committed a criminal offence.
ASIRT, with the assistance of RCMP Major Crimes Unit and Forensic Identification Services, interviewed all relevant police and civilian witnesses, conducted a scene examination, documented all exhibits seized, looked at relevant video footage and attended the autopsy of the deceased as part of the investigation .
