Alberta police watchdog determines suspect was a danger to Calgary police officer
Posted Aug 31, 2023 4:23 pm.
The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) says it was fortunate a Calgary officer didn’t suffer more severe injuries during a shootout with a suspect who took his own life last fall.
The police watchdog has concluded its investigation into the October 2022 incident outside a Canyon Meadows condo complex.
They say the officer was justified in using self-defence when they fired eight times at the man.
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It started when police were called to a building on Canyon Meadows Drive SW, just west of Macleod Trail, at 2:45 a.m. for reports of a suspicious vehicle “blaring loud music and behaving erratically” in the parking lot.
ASIRT says body-worn cameras show that the suspect pulled out a shotgun and started firing right after the officer walked up to the car.
After a series of gunshots were exchanged, the man exited his vehicle and fled on foot.
The man ran to Fish Creek Park, where he shot himself, taking his own life, according to police.
ASIRT says more police officers showed up, along with a helicopter, which found the man in Fish Creek Park.
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The helicopter monitored the man when it reported he “appeared to discharge a firearm.”
The autopsy confirmed he wasn’t hit by any police rounds and died of a self-inflicted gunshot.
