One man, who had previous dealings with police, is dead after being shot by a member of the Calgary Police Service in Bridgeland late Monday night.
Police officials say the officer was on his break when he encountered a man in his late 20's in the northeast neighbourhood at about 11:30 p.m.
“An on-duty, plainclothes member of the Calgary Police Service was taking his break in his unmarked police service vehicle near the intersection of 2 Avenue and 6 Street Northeast,” said Acting Deputy Chief Steve Barlow. “During this time, an unexpected confrontation occurred between the officer and a man who was allegedly armed. This confrontation resulted in the officer discharging his service firearm.”
“First aid was provided but the man died at the scene.”
According to Barlow, the deceased man has been identified and was previously known to police. The identity of the deceased has not been released.
The CPS member, an 11-year veteran of the service, was not injured in the ordeal.
"(He) has been placed on a standard 30 day administrative leave to give him time to process the incident in a healthy manner before returning to work.”
Emily Pohorelic has lived in the area for a few years and says she is concerned because the incident happened near a playground but is not surprised. “This street, the street over is a little bit sketchier,” she said. “There’s always trouble people, you just got to be careful.”
“I was at home and I heard some arguing and then it elevated and then there was a gunshot,” said a man who lives nearby. “I didn’t think much about the arguing because it happens sometimes but the gunshot was shocking to me because I've never heard that before.”
Acting Deputy Chief Barlow says, to his knowledge, few witnesses have come forward following the confrontation.
Lee Kaminski, president of the Calgary Police Association commends the officer for acting courageously while facing imminent danger.
“This officer tried to deescalate the situation as best he could," said Kaminski. "This offender knew he was dealing with a Calgary police officer and he voiced his intention to kill him."
"The officer was forced to have to take drastic measures to stop this person from being successful in hurting him seriously or killing him.”
According to Barlow, CPS members encounter difficult situations on a near-daily basis and receive excellent training, but new problems are emerging within the city.
“I think that we are dealing with many new situations that officers have not been confronted with before. We are a very large city of 1.2 million people. We are seeing more weapons on the street than we have seen before.”
ASIRT has launched an investigation into the actions of the CPS member.
