On December 25, 2015, the Director of Law Enforcement directed ASIRT (Alberta Serious Incident Response Team) to investigate the circumstances surrounding an officer-involved shooting on that same day in Red Deer.
On Christmas day, Red Deer RCMP began investigating an incident of intimate partner violence involving allegations of very serious criminal offences. The male suspect had been identified, and police were attempting to locate the man.
At approximately 11:35 a.m., police located the man in a stolen vehicle in Sylvan Lake. While police attempted to stop the vehicle, the man reversed the vehicle into a marked police vehicle, disabling it. The man then fled the scene in the vehicle.
At approximately 1:05 p.m., Red Deer RCMP were patrolling an industrial area in north Red Deer when they located the stolen vehicle and saw a man near a front end loader. The man entered the front end loader and drove through the fence onto Highway 11A and into an adjoining lot. The loader collided with multiple vehicles causing extensive damage. Additional RCMP members were called into the area to attempt to contain the man in the front end loader.
The man drove the front end loader away from the industrial area with RCMP members following it. The man drove the front end loader north and then east into a field. As the officers followed, at some point the front end loader collided with a police vehicle. The officer in this vehicle exited it and fired several shots. A second officer on scene also fired several shots. The front end loader proceeded into a field and began to move in circles. Other RCMP members who followed the front end loader into the field were able to get close enough to see the man slumped over in the seat and no longer controlling the front end loader. The front end loader continued into a wooded area and travelled for approximately 800 metres until it became lodged against a tree.
RCMP members then climbed into the front end loader and turned it off. The man was unresponsive and bleeding in the driver’s seat of the front end loader. Emergency Medical Services were called in but determined the man to be deceased at the scene.
The deceased man was a 37-year-old resident of Red Deer and was known to police. An autopsy will be performed in the coming days.
The RCMP continue to investigate the earlier incidents while ASIRT focuses its investigation on the circumstances surrounding the RCMP officer-involved shooting.
ASIRT investigators are asking anyone who was in the area of Township Road 391 and Range Road 273 at approximately 1:15 pm on December 25 and who may have seen the confrontation between the police and the man to contact ASIRT. Witnesses are asked to contact ASIRT at 403-592-4306.
With ASIRT’s investigation underway, further comment will not be available until the investigation is completed.
ASIRT’s mandate is to effectively, independently and objectively investigate incidents involving Alberta’s police that have resulted in serious injury or death to any person, as well as serious or sensitive allegations of police misconduct.