The family of a Calgary man killed after a 30-hour standoff with police last week is speaking out and sharing details of the tense and heartbreaking experience.
Patrick Robert Kimmel, 45, was shot and killed by police on Friday, March 15, in the Penbrooke Meadows community after barricading himself inside a home.
The situation began the day before, at 3:30 p.m., when police attempted to execute a search warrant at a home in the 300 block of Penswood Way SE.
Before officers could enter the home, shots were fired in its direction, prompting police to ask nearby residents to shelter in place.
In the hours that followed, Kimmel’s family attempted to urge the man to turn himself in to police.
‘He was beaten’
Although Kimmel and his wife Jamie McConnell separated years ago, they were still married.
McConnell, who lives in Drumheller, Alta., says he first learned of the situation from his sister, who told him police were at Kimmel’s Calgary home.
Shortly after, she managed to contact him by phone.
“I’m not sure of the exact time, but it was after it had already started because the first shots had already been fired. They hit him,” she said.
“We were able to get him on the phone and talk to him while it was happening, and he was in shock. He said he was hit several times and he didn’t know why.
“I asked him to tell me where his injuries were, but he was already in danger and couldn’t tell me exactly where his injuries were.”
Patrick Robert Kimmel (left) and Jamie McConnell (right). McConnell says he spoke with Kimmel, as did his daughter and one of his three sons.
“We were all trying to talk to him to hopefully get him to try to get out without things moving forward.”
Finally, the phone call ended.
‘Scared and didn’t know what to do’
McConnell began working with negotiators, who were trying to get Kimmel another phone so the family could talk to him again and potentially convince him to leave the house.
“The people that were at the scene, he would never have gone out to look for them,” McConnell. “He wasn’t himself, he wasn’t in his right mind and he was scared and he didn’t know what to do.”
“He’s not going to look at the people outside who were shooting as anything other than the enemy.”
Although police were able to get Kimmel another phone, McConnell says investigators ultimately decided not to let the family speak to him and would instead only communicate with him through negotiators.
“The last time I talked to him was around 9 p.m. (Thursday),” McConnell said.
“He just said he loved us all and he was sorry and he wasn’t going to make it, and they would never let them out.”
Criminal history
Court documents show Kimmel had a criminal history that included firearms violations.
He was arrested for an armed home invasion in Drumheller in 2021, where no one was injured.
At the time, the RCMP had issued an arrest warrant saying he was “armed and dangerous.”
Shortly afterward he was arrested and charged with several crimes.
Many of the charges were stayed or dropped, according to court records.
His last court appearance was in 2022.
Patrick Robert Kimmel appears in a 2021 RCMP photo.
Addictions and mental health problems
Kimmel’s son, Malcolm Kimmel, acknowledges that his father had some struggles with addiction and mental health, but says there will always be “good memories before that.”
“He’s always there, smiling, being like a role model… and then he fell into mental health issues and addiction.”
Patrick Robert Kimmel, 45, was shot and killed on Friday, March 15, 2024, following a 30-hour standoff with Calgary police. (Supplied)
‘He didn’t want to die’
McConnell says he was worried that even if Kimmel left the Penbrook Meadows home peacefully, police would still shoot him.
“I feel like they were talking to him, but they were just trying to get them to come to that door to end this, not so they could help him,” she said.
McConnell says she feels she and Kimmel’s children were not informed as the situation unfolded.
“When you can update social media about every hour, but you can’t update your wife and kids, I feel like there’s something really wrong with that,” he said.
“He didn’t want to die, he didn’t want to fall like this.”
ASIRT investigating
Calgary police said in a Saturday news release that after Kimmel fired the initial rounds at officers, he continued shooting from the home throughout Thursday afternoon and into the next day.
“We estimate that more than 100 rounds were fired and we are very grateful that no officers or bystanders were injured as a result,” police said.
“The responding members exercised extreme patience and worked tirelessly to find a peaceful solution.”
Police say the “situation escalated” at 8:30 pm on Friday.
“During the confrontation with the suspect, officers from the tactical unit, along with members of the RCMP emergency response team, discharged their service weapons. As a result, the suspect was shot and pronounced deceased.”
Alberta’s police watchdog, the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT), has taken over the investigation and police will not release any further information.
Police shooting statistics
Tom Engel, chair of the Criminal Trial Lawyers Association’s policing committee, says the number of police shootings in Alberta is wildly disproportionate to the rest of Canada.
“Our police officers shoot people far more frequently per capita than anywhere else in Canada.
“For example, in 2023 there were 21 police shootings in Alberta, which was a 90 per cent increase from 2020.
“In Canada, police shot 85 people in 2023 between January 1 and December 15. Forty-one of those shootings were fatal, so Alberta has about 25 per cent of cases where police shoots at people.”
Engel calls it “a very complex question” and says we need answers.
“Personally, I think the Alberta government should call a public inquiry into this. It’s a big problem,” he said.
With files from Tyler Barrow