Man with BB gun shot by police in RCMP Strathcona County parking lot wanted to die: ASIRT

Warning: This article deals with suicide. If you are thinking about suicide or are worried about someone, help is available 24/7 at 1-866-277-3553, by text at 535353, or by chat at suicide.ca.

The man with a BB gun who was shot by four police officers in the secure parking lot of the RCMP Strathcona County detachment this summer was trying to get himself killed, according to Alberta’s police watchdog.

The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) says the man admitted to buying the gun with the intention of pointing it at officers to get them to shoot him. “You were supposed to kill me,” he reportedly told officers as they handcuffed him and called medical services.

ASIRT says the officers “acted reasonably” and it is not recommending charges against them.

That’s the police watchdog’s conclusion into the July 28 shooting following an investigation that relied heavily on video footage: the Strathcona County RCMP detachment CCTV, body-worn cameras from six officers, and cameras from three parked and unoccupied police vehicles.

ASIRT also spoke to the man who was shot by police as part of the investigation. He reportedly told investigators he intended to commit suicide and that he was sorry.

The man also had two notes on him at the time of the shooting that alluded to suicide, ASIRT says. “One note was to officer(s) and apologized to them and said he hoped they could overcome any trauma induced,” reads ASIRT’s report.

ASIRT says an officer first spotted the man with a weapon in the fenced-off parking lot around 10:34 a.m. and broadcast that information over the police radio.

Officers arrived with guns drawn. “Stop! Get on the ground! Get on the ground!” police told the man as he pulled out his weapon, the report reads.

Three seconds later, ASIRT says the man raised the gun and pointed it at one of the officers. He “kept the handgun raised and pointed for 3-4 seconds. All four subject officers fired.”

The officers fired a total 12 bullets, and the man was struck “multiple times.”

“Two bullet holes were located on the nearby fire department building and two police vehicles had a single bullet hole each.”

The man was taken to hospital with serious injuries. No officers were injured.

“(He) intended for the BB gun to be seen as a real gun,” ASIRT’s report reads. “Only under close inspection was it clear that it was not a real gun. The subject officers here, and police officers in general, cannot be expected to take the time to determine if a gun that is pointed at them is real or fake before responding. To do so would provide an opportunity to be shot when it is a real gun.

“The subject officers were entitled to view the BB gun as a real gun and respond to it as they would a real gun. When they responded with their guns, it was proportionate.”