EPS officer cleared in fatal shooting of man who pointed replica gun at woman’s head on Whyte Ave in 2024

An Edmonton police officer has been cleared in the fatal shooting of a man who had previously pointed a gun – what turned out to be an unloaded air pistol – at a woman’s head on Whyte Avenue in the summer of 2024.

That’s according to the review by Alberta’s police watchdog, the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT), which determined the officer who fired the fatal shot reasonably believed there was an “immediate and lethal threat.”

“It was necessary for the subject officer to fire at the (suspect) when he did,” according to the ASIRT report into the July 17, 2024, shooting.

BACKGROUND: Man pointing replica gun at person, transit bus shot by Edmonton police

The watchdog says the officer had no way of knowing the suspect’s weapon, which looked like a double-action Colt Python .357 Magnum revolver, was an unloaded air pistol.

Regarding the fatal interaction with police, the second officer at the scene told ASIRT the suspect transitioned from holding the gun facing downward as he walked towards officers, to stomach-level and pointing it towards them as he began sprinting forward.

While the report concedes that officer’s testimony is the only evidence the suspect was pointing his weapon at them – other witness vantage points and video of the shooting were inconclusive – the watchdog believes it would “likely be accepted by a court due to the absence of other evidence.”

A civilian witness did not recall seeing the man pointing the gun at police.

“The (suspect) had refused to comply with police directions to ‘stop’ and to ‘drop the gun’ and chose to continue to advance on the officers while holding and pointing the gun at them,” the ASIRT report summarizes.

“Under the circumstances as then faced by the subject officer, no other use of-force options were reasonably available to him.”

Edmonton police officers were called to Whyte Ave and 93 Street after a man reportedly followed a group of three people, pointed what appeared to be a handgun at them, and then held the gun to a woman’s head.

Officers arrived in an unmarked vehicle just after midnight to find the suspect pointing the weapon at a city bus. While the officers didn’t turn their police lights on, ASIRT says they did identify themselves and instructed the man to “drop the gun.”

The man began walking towards the officers, and then started sprinting, according to the police watchdog. The report says the officer fired two rounds from his carbine when the suspect was within 20 metres of the officers, striking him once in the pelvic area.

The man underwent surgery but died two days later in hospital. A toxicology report determined he had ingested methamphetamine “sometime before death” and that his blood alcohol level was twice the legal limit.