Standoff with RCMP ends in tragedy
Posted May 29, 2012 7:13 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A man who Stettler Mounties believe shot and wounded a woman Monday morning turned the gun on himself, ending a lengthy standoff with police.
Reports say the woman was shot after she dropped off a lawnmower for repairs on the southeast edge of Stettler around 9:00 a.m. and refused to get in the man’s truck while walking home.
The deadlock with RCMP and the gunman began just after 9:30 a.m. Monday morning when the he fled the scene.
The standoff ended around 6:00 p.m. when the man shot and killed himself.
Police say they did everything in their power to leave the gunman unharmed, but Staff Sergeant Shawn Lemay says after an eight hour man-hunt, any sort of attempted negotiations came to an abrupt halt.
“We can confirm that we contained the suspect within a grassy, treed area just east of Castro, which is actually just two kilometres east of Fleet,” says S/Sgt. Lemay. “He is deceased at his own hands as a result of a self-inflicted wound.”
The victim, believed to be a mother of two in her 30’s, was airlifted by STARS to Foothills Hospital where she is still recovering.
Her current condition isn’t known, but Mounties say her injuries were considered non life-threatening.
It’s unclear whether or not the man and woman knew one another; both are believed to be from the Stettler area, which is about 70 kilometres east of Red Deer.
