Reasonable use of force in fatal 2019 shooting of woman wielding sword in Sherwood Park: ASIRT
Posted April 11, 2023 11:04 am.
Last Updated April 11, 2023 11:07 am.
Alberta’s police watchdog has determined an RCMP officer will not face charges in the 2019 fatal shooting of a woman wielding a sword in Sherwood Park.
The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team concluded the officer’s use of force was “proportionate, necessary, and reasonable” in the Sept. 23, 2019, incident.
The shooting was caught on a police cruiser’s dashcam.
Strathcona RCMP officers were called to the 42-year-old woman’s home in Sherwood Park after she told dispatchers she was armed with a knife and sword and was going to kill herself.
The first officer to arrive on scene confirmed the woman was holding a sword, according to ASIRT’s review of the video.
A second cruiser arrived shortly after, with two officers inside.
One of the officers asked the woman to emerge from the home and to put the katana sword down.
ASIRT says the woman “came out of the house holding the sword with both hands. The blade of the sword was approximately three feet long. She then started to run towards the officers.”
ASIRT’s investigation determined the officers began to step backways.
One of the officers shouted to the woman to “drop it” three times. The woman then began to run at that officer, was “within feet” of him and “appeared to be gaining ground on him, as he was trying to move backwards.”
That’s when the officer fired one round of his firearm, ASIRT says. The woman was struck in the chest and fell to the ground.
She was transported to hospital but was declared dead.
A toxicology report found the woman had a high level of alcohol, cocaine and marijuana in her blood.
“Under the circumstances as then faced by the officers, no other use of force options were reasonably available for attempted use. (The subject officer’s) use of his firearm to incapacitate this threat was reasonably necessary,” ASIRT concluded.
“As such, there are no reasonable grounds to believe an offence was committed.”
ASIRT says it gathered evidence from a civilian witness, the subject and witness officers, and in-car video recordings.
