By Shane Clausing

RCMP

ASIRT provides update into fatal RCMP officer-involved shooting near High Prairie

Jun 21, 2021 | 5:42 PM

The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) is providing an update into a fatal RCMP officer-involved shooting that involved a 29-year-old man near High Prairie.

On June 17 at 10:57 a.m., a fully marked RCMP vehicle initiated a traffic stop on a red Cadillac that was associated with a 29-year-old man who had outstanding criminal warrants.

During the traffic stop, the Cadillac fled from police, who did not pursue the vehicle.

The officers who attempted the traffic stop broadcasted to other officers to be on the lookout for the red Cadillac.

At 11:30 a.m., a different RCMP unit located the red Cadillac just east of Range Road 175, three kilometres north of Highway 679. The vehicle ended up getting stuck in the mud and partially covered with a blanket.

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The officers then cleared the vehicle, which was unoccupied and found a bag containing three types of ammunition, as well as identification that belonged to the man.

Two additional police officers then arrived at the scene, one of them was a Police Service Dog (PSD) handler.

The PSD established a track and all four officers and the police dog began tracking east into thick bush for approximately three to six kilometres over a two-hour span.

After the track, officers encountered the 29-year-old man who owned the Cadillac and traded gunfire with him. During the shootout, the police dog was struck and killed by the gunfire.

No officers were injured during the incident, nor was the man believed to have been struck. Officers were told to disengage and were removed from the area by a civilian Search and Rescue Helicopter.

Shortly after, more resources and officers were deployed to the area, including members of the RCMP’s Emergency Response Team (ERT). Once the ERT members arrived in the area of the initial incident, they again encountered the man.

During the encounter, several officers discharged their firearms. At the time, the officers believed the man had been struck.

Attempts to communicate with the man or force him out of the thick bush were unsuccessful and a physical search of the area was conducted, but the man was nowhere to be found.

After a search through the dense bush that lasted several hours, police made contact with the man on two additional occasions and issued various verbal commands to him. No shots were fired during the two encounters and officers were able to establish that the man didn’t appear to be injured from the previous shootout.

Police ended up setting up a containment around the roads in the area and continued searching for the man.

The next day, on June 18 at 11:45 a.m., two RCMP officers who were assigned to maintain containment for the zone spotted the man in a ditch on the west side of Range Road 170, two kilometers north of Township Road 770.

Officers confronted the man and both officers discharged their firearms. The man fell to the ground in the tall grass and additional officers and ERT medical officers responded to the area.

Medical officers attempted to treat the man, but he died at the scene.

A loaded semi-automatic .22-calibre rifle, as well as a range finder, were recovered from the incident scene and have been seized as exhibits.

ASIRT’S investigation into the matter remains ongoing and no further information will be released at this time.