No charges for Calgary officer who shot armed home invasion suspect
Posted Mar 25, 2026 1:38 pm.
Last Updated Mar 25, 2026 2:56 pm.
A Calgary police officer who shot an armed home invasion suspect in the back seven years ago won’t face any charges, Alberta’s police watchdog said Wednesday.
In the early morning hours of March 23, 2019, officers were called to a home on 86 Avenue SE for reports of an armed home invasion involving multiple offenders.
Once on scene, police found two armed men trying to leave the scene in a vehicle. The driver didn’t listen to calls by the officer to stop, and instead fired a shotgun.
The officer returned fire, shooting off a total of 10 rounds at the vehicle as it drove away.
The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) says the Ford Escape crashed into a house a short distance away shortly after the police officer fired his last shot.
The suspect was hit with one bullet in the back and was left with serious but non-life threatening injuries. He underwent surgery and spent a total of 10 days in hospital before being discharged.
ASIRT concluded the initial four shots fired were justified, but investigators took issue with the officer firing six more shots as the truck was fleeing.
ASIRT and ACPS operate on different standards: ASIRT, as the investigative body, applies a Criminal Code standard that determines whether reasonable grounds exist to believe that an offence has been committed. ACPS, based on its internal policy regarding criminal prosecutions, applies a standard that determines whether there is reasonable likelihood of conviction arising out of the evidence, and whether it is in the public interest to proceed with a prosecution.
