Alberta watchdog's ruling on Winnipeg police fatal shooting of Nigerian student expected in August

CBC

5 days ago

A decision over whether Winnipeg police officers were justified in the fatal 2023 shooting of a Nigerian international student is expected by the end of August, the out-of-province police watchdog tapped to conduct the investigation says.
Afolabi Stephen Opaso, 19, was shot dead by officers responding to a well-being call at a Winnipeg apartment building on Dec. 31, 2023, the Independent Investigation Unit (IIU) of Manitoba has said. The agency investigates all serious incidents involving police in Manitoba.
Winnipeg police said the call involved a possibly armed man who was acting erratically. Opaso, a University of Manitoba student, was armed with two knives when officers shot him, then-police chief Danny Smyth told reporters a day after the shooting.
In January 2024, the IIU tapped its Alberta-based counterpart to take over the investigation into Opaso's death to avoid any perceived conflict of interest, after it said a Manitoba Justice employee was found to be a "close relative" of a police officer involved in the shooting.
Opaso's family has been vocal about their wait for answers over his death in the months since. Last December, the family released a statement expressing deep frustration as they continued to wait for the independent report into what led to Opaso's death.
The family released another statement on Monday, urging the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) to release a formal written update on the status of its investigation within seven days.
"This continued delay is unjustified and quite disturbing for us, and we genuinely wonder if our beloved brother will ever get justice," said the most recent statement, provided to CBC News by the Opaso family's lawyer, Jean-René Dominique Kwilu.
A decision is expected by the end of August, a spokesperson for the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) told CBC News on Thursday.
Kwilu says he didn't hear back from ASIRT after sending the family's most recent statement to the police watchdog.
He said the watchdog's decision is "long overdue," as questions have swirled about alleged discrepancies between police's account of the shooting and Opaso's roommates, including whether Opaso was holding a weapon before his death.
"We'll see what the investigation findings are, and then the family will know what their next steps are," Kwilu told CBC News on Thursday. He had not informed Opaso's family of the watchdog's update at that point.
The family is considering whether to sue Winnipeg police over Opaso's death, Kwilu said.
The family hopes the watchdog's final report will help them understand what information emergency dispatchers gave the officers who responded to the call, and how much time police had to talk to each other before providing their accounts of what happened, Kwilu said.
The family also wants to know whether all the gunshots fired were necessary in the officers' response and whether there was a racial component to how the case was dealt with.
Opaso's death disturbed Winnipeg's international student community, and it has broader implications for families with loved ones who struggle with mental health issues, he said.
"Beyond just Afolabi, if there are some reforms that are needed, then those reforms must be tackled, especially in the areas of police and mental health, and how to respond to these calls," Kwilu said.