The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) has determined a member of the Calgary Police Service acted appropriately, given the circumstances, in an October 31, 2014 shooting that claimed the life of a pellet gun wielding suspect.
In the early morning hours of October 31, officers responded to Langin Place, an affordable housing building in the 400 block of Macleod Trail Southeast for men with mental health and addiction issues, following reports an armed man was threatening a resident.
After unsuccessful attempts to contact the man by phone, officers knocked on the suspect’s suite and stepped away in order to establish cover.
A 30-year-old man exited the suite carrying what officers believed was a handgun. A CPS member yelled ‘gun’ and the suspect allegedly pointed the barrel of the weapon towards the officers. An officer fired his rifle twice with one of the shots striking the suspect in the left side of his torso. The injured man returned to his suite.
Attempts to talk to the man went unanswered and a remote-controlled CPS robot, equipped with a camera, was sent into the apartment. The Calgary Fire Department was called to the building after smoke began to billow out of the unit. The smoke was the result of a pot left on the stove.
The camera captured the motionless suspect on the floor. Officers entered the suite and discovered the man had passed away.
The suspect’s weapon was located and determined to be a Crossman ‘Walther PPK’ carbon dioxide powered pellet pistol.
An autopsy confirmed the man’s death was the result of the gunshot.
According to Susan D. Hughson, ASIRT’s executive director, ‘there are no reasonable grounds to believe the officer committed any offence’ and ‘there were objectively reasonable grounds to believe that the use of lethal force was required to prevent imminent death or grievous bodily harm to both himself and the other officers’.
Hughson, on behalf of ASIRT, offers her condolences to the family and friends of the unnamed victim.
