The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) has begun its investigation into an early morning altercation on Christmas Day that ended with a CPS member fatally shooting a suspect.
According to ASIRT, the shooting victim was a 29-year-old woman who was the registered owner of the car she had been driving at the time of her death.
Shortly after midnight on Christmas Day, CPS members responded to a location near the intersection of Blackfoot Trail and 9 Avenue S.E. following reports of a suspected impaired driver. Officers attempted to stop the suspect vehicle, a grey Honda sedan with British Columbia plates, but the driver did not comply.
Less than three hours later, police received reports of a car being driven in an erratic manner in the northeast neighbourhood of Falconridge. The responding officers to the second call encountered the same Honda sedan and witnessed it driving the wrong way and into oncoming lanes of traffic.
The vehicle was eventually stopped on McKnight Boulevard near 68 Street N.E. According to ASIRT, officers exited their units and the driver responded by accelerating. An officer, a 10-year CPS veteran, fired their service pistol at the suspect and the woman was fatally wounded. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
The identity of the deceased has not been released. An autopsy was scheduled to be conducted on Boxing Day.
