Lethal force by Edmonton officers justified in 2018 Boxing Day shooting: ASIRT

Alberta’s police watchdog has concluded its investigation and no officers will be charged in relation to an officer-involved shooting on Boxing Day in 2018.

On December 26, 2018, surveillance was being conducted on a vehicle carrying a man believed to be armed and dangerous. When a traffic stop was conducted, two passengers in the vehicle exited without incident.

Officers were interested in one of them, a man with five outstanding warrants. However, he refused to exit and remained in the vehicle.

Shots were fired when officers confronted the 34-year-old man. As a result of the shooting, the man was treated by EMS and transported to a hospital where he later died. No other people were injured.

READ MORE: Police-involved shootings rise to two after man shot dead in Edmonton

Alberta’s Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) was informed of the shooting and took over the investigation.

In a 25-page report issued by ASIRT on Thursday — nearly four years after the shooting — it was determined EPS officers had obtained a judicial authorization that allowed them to locate the suspect’s phone. Which officers were able to narrow down to a home the suspect had been previously linked with.

Officer-involved shooting Dec. 26, 2018. (Photo Credit: CityNews)

Officers at the time also believed the 34-year-old might have been in possession of a firearm and that he allegedly made comments about shooting officers if they tried to arrest him.

“At 2:02 p.m., the Chevrolet Avalanche pulled into an apartment building parking lot at 7909 71 Street. Over the police radio, an officer stated that the plan was to wait for all of the occupants to exit the vehicle and then arrest them. The Chevrolet Avalanche stopped next to the apartment building,” said ASIRT in a statement of events leading up to the shooting.

“Before anyone exited the Chevrolet Avalanche, witness officer number one (WO1) drove his marked police vehicle into the parking lot and toward the front of the Chevrolet Avalanche. WO1 stated to investigators that he did not intend to drive toward the Chevrolet Avalanche, but a misinterpretation of the aired location of the vehicle resulted in him doing so. Once it appeared to WO1 that the occupants of the Chevrolet Avalanche had noticed his marked police vehicle, he felt committed to initiating the traffic stop,” the statement added.

More officers arrived at the scene and instructed all the occupants inside the Chevrolet Avalanche to exit the vehicle one by one, which is when the 34-year-old refused.

Roughly two minutes after the traffic stop began, one EPS officer fires a baton from his ARWEN (a less-lethal projectile device), which struck the suspect.

ASIRT determined through witness statements and with confirmation of infrared imagery from Air 1, the suspect reached to the ground and a firearm was discharged from that area, at which point the EPS officer fired a second round from his ARWEN and other officers fired their guns.

“The discharges from the subject officers other than the first ARWEN discharge took place over approximately 11 seconds.”

Officer-involved shooting Dec. 26, 2018. (Photo Credit: CityNews)

ASIRT concluded that the officers in question “were in a dynamic situation where lives were in danger, and they responded with lethal force.”

“ASIRT interviewed all relevant police and civilian witnesses, conducted a scene examination of the incident location, documented all exhibits seized and attended the autopsy of the AP. Video footage relevant to the incident was obtained and analyzed by ASIRT investigators along with recorded audio of communications which occurred prior to and during the incident.”

The full report of ASIRT’s investigation can be found here.