Latest news with #AlbertaSeriousIncidentResponseTeam
CTV News
2 days ago
- CTV News
Police shoot and injure suspect in southeast Calgary
A suspect was shot and injured following a confrontation with police on June 6, 2025. Calgary police shot and injured a suspect in the southeast community of Manchester overnight. At 12:15 a.m., police were on patrol near Deerfoot Trail and 17 Avenue S.E. when they came across a vehicle where a passenger pointed what appeared to be a handgun at them. A police helicopter, a canine unit and other officers were brought in to stop the vehicle in the 600 block of 25 Avenue S.E. Police say one man fled from the vehicle and 'a confrontation occurred,' in which the man was shot. He was taken to hospital in life-threatening condition but has since been upgraded to stable. Two other people inside the vehicle were arrested without incident. No police officers or members of the public were hurt. The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team has been dispatched to investigate the incident, as is protocol.
CBC
13-02-2025
- CBC
RCMP cleared in death of central Alberta man shot at home during mental health crisis
An RCMP officer who fatally shot a Red Deer, Alta., man who was experiencing a mental health crisis in the basement of his home has been cleared of wrongdoing in the death. The 33-year-old, who lived with schizophrenia and substance abuse issues, was killed in 2023 after his family had sought to have him detained under the Mental Health Act. In a report issued Thursday, the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team found that the officer's use of force in the shooting was justified. According to the report, the Mountie was "lawfully placed, and acting properly" in the execution of his duties when he opened fire on the armed man, firing six shots. "There is no evidence to support any belief that any officer engaged in any unlawful or unreasonable conduct that would give rise to an offence," said Michael Ewenson, ASIRT's executive director. "While the death of [affected person] is unfortunate, the force used by [subject officer] was proportionate, necessary and reasonable in all the circumstances." A call for help According to the report, the incident began with a call to 911 on the afternoon of April 13, 2023. The man's father had called Red Deer RCMP for help, reporting that his son had threatened him with a knife. The man's family had obtained a court order earlier that day to have him detained under the Mental Health Act but officers had yet to arrive to execute the order and bring the man to hospital for care. When RCMP responded to the call, they found the man in the basement, laying on his side on a mattress on the basement floor. The father told police that his son had threatened to slash his throat but assured officers upon their arrival at the family home that his son would be apprehended peacefully. According to the ASIRT report, the officers repeatedly attempted to engage with the man and tell him he was being apprehended but he refused to comply and continued to lie on his bed, facing the wall. As the officer approached, the man rolled over, pulled a knife from beneath his body and began to sit up. The officer backed away and pointed his conducted energy weapon at the man, eventually deploying it when the man refused to drop the knife. But the shock from the stun gun did not incapacitate him. The officer then drew his pistol. A second officer deployed his conducted energy weapon and shocked the man but he continued to keep hold of the knife. Death angers family' Then, the man who was on his knees, still holding the knife, lunged toward the first officer. The officer was about two metres away with his back against the wall. He fired his pistol at the man until he collapsed near his feet. "Fearing for his and his fellow officers' safety," the officer shot the man, striking him several times, the report said. Officers administered first aid but the man died of injuries at the scene. An autopsy determined the man died of multiple gunshot wounds. A knife, described by one of the officers as a large butcher knife, was later found discarded on the basement floor. Six pistol casings were recovered from the scene. According to the ASIRT report, the man had been diagnosed with schizophrenia when he was a teenager and had a dependency on narcotics. When speaking with investigators, the man's father expressed anger over his son's death and described the incident as an "assassination." He told investigators that he was there in the basement when his son fell to his knees before being shot — and said he did not hear the officer issue any warnings. ASIRT investigators, however, ruled that officers were justified in their response. The man presented officers "a lethal threat" given his possession of the knife, and his refusal to drop it, despite numerous commands to do so, Ewenson wrote. The officer was acting out his duty to protect himself and others at the scene, Ewenson said. Further, attempts to stop him with less lethal force were ineffective. Under the circumstances as then faced by the officers, no other use of force options was reasonably available for attempted use. "The [officer's] reliance on using his firearm to incapacitate this threat was reasonably necessary," Ewenson said.
CBC
06-02-2025
- CBC
One dead and 15 in custody after RCMP respond to recent Prairies border crossings
The RCMP have released details on three incidents along the Canada-U.S. border officers responded to in recent weeks. The incidents involved 16 attempted border crossings and one death. Police held a news conference in Edmonton on Wednesday to provide information about two border crossings in Coutts, Alta., earlier this week, and one crossing 15 kilometres east of Emerson, Man., a few weeks earlier. On Tuesday morning, a man crossing the border into Coutts was referred to a secondary inspection area, from which he fled. After the driver was located near Raymond, Alta., about 80 kilometres north of Coutts, he kept driving north to Lethbridge, before heading back to Raymond where he was seen holding a gun, police said. RCMP then used a tire deflation device to stop the man's vehicle south of Milk River, Alta., close to where the chase began in Coutts. The man then fled on foot, where he was pursued by police. During the pursuit, the man shot himself and was pronounced dead at the scene. The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team is now investigating the incident, police said. The day before, on Monday morning, RCMP were notified by the U.S. Border Patrol about a potential crossing near Coutts. Officers found a large group of people, four adults and five children, who were travelling on foot in bitterly cold weather. The nine people were arrested under the Customs Act and handed over to the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA). Officers also discussed a Jan. 14 crossing near Emerson, Man., where an RCMP border patrol plane equipped with thermal imaging located a group of six people and directed ground units to the location. Police on the ground searched the nearby woods where the group had fled and arrested them without incident. The six people were handed over to CBSA custody. In this case, police noted that the people found crossing the border were not dressed for the cold winter weather. In all three of the incidents, RCMP said the weather ranged between –20 and –30 C, without accounting for wind chill. Assistant commissioner Lisa Moreland, the RCMP's regional commander of federal policing in the Northwest region, noted the danger faced by people illegally crossing the border from the U.S. into Canada. "To anyone who is thinking about crossing the border, don't. You are putting your life at risk and you should not attempt under any circumstances," Moreland said on Wednesday. The police announcement came just days after increased security at the Canada-U.S. border played a part in delaying announced tariffs between the two countries. On Monday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau reiterated the country's intent to move forward with a previously announced $1.3-billion border security plan. The suite of new measures includes outfitting the RCMP with helicopters, drones and mobile surveillance towers, and creating a new "Canada-U.S. Joint Strike Force" targeting organized crime. On the same day, previously announced U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods were delayed for a month. Border security has been a hot-button issue in recent months as U.S. President Donald Trump has criticized the flow of illegal migrants and fentanyl from Canada into the U.S. But the incidents the RCMP discussed on Wednesday involved irregular border crossings moving in the other direction. Police added that none of the three border crossings discussed on Wednesday involved fentanyl.
CBC
31-01-2025
- CBC
Calgary police officer charged with perjury, fabricating evidence following provincial watchdog investigation
A former Calgary police constable has been charged with perjury and fabricating evidence following an investigation into a family court case unrelated to his employment with the police service. The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) — an organization that investigates incidents involving Alberta's police that have resulted in serious injury or death to any person, or serious or sensitive allegations of police misconduct — was directed to investigate a Calgary Police Service (CPS) officer regarding evidence provided by him in an off-duty legal proceeding. "The evidence gathered during ASIRT's investigation provided reasonable grounds to believe that an offence had been committed," reads a statement from the organization. Joseph Barton was charged with perjury and fabricating evidence, offences pursuant to Sections 132 and 137 of the Criminal Code of Canada in relation to the incident. He's scheduled to appear in the Alberta Court of Justice in Calgary on March 6.
