Officer cleared in fatal shooting of man armed with knife, axe
A Calgary police officer has been cleared of wrongdoing in the fatal shooting of an armed, mentally unstable man more than two years ago.
The province’s police watchdog, the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT), said Wednesday that the officer’s use of lethal force was unavoidable when the 43-year-old man advanced on officers while brandishing a knife and an axe outside his Kingsland-area apartment on Jan. 27, 2018.
“Viewing the incident as a whole, the officer’s use of lethal force, made only upon the man’s rapid advancement on the officer while armed with an axe and a knife or knives, accompanied by threats to kill, was reasonable and justified,” ASIRT said in a statement.
That conclusion comes at a time when police officers’ use of force during incidents involving suspects’ mental health is coming under increasing scrutiny.
In its report on the incident, ASIRT noted that police had apprehended the man six days before the incident, taking him to the South Health Campus under the Mental Health Act.
Over the next few days, the man’s father had called authorities with concerns about his son’s welfare and mental state. The man was admitted to Rockyview General Hospital and discharged after a brief stay on Jan. 25, said ASIRT.
The following day, the father said his son seemed more mentally stable, but said his son told him without explanation that it would be his “last night as a free man.”
On Jan. 27, the report stated that as the man walked to a nearby pub he suddenly ran into traffic, seemingly “trying to get himself killed,” said a neighbour who’d accompanied him.
The two were forced to leave the bar following a conflict with staff, and the man then returned to his second-floor apartment at Grandel Manor, at 606 68th Ave. S.W. A short while later neighbours called 911, saying he was having some kind of mental breakdown.
Officers who responded were aware he’d recently been apprehended under the Mental Health Act. They heard banging noises coming from the man’s suite and noted numerous items from his home littered the building’s hallway.
After making contact with the man, police decided to cease speaking with him “to give him some time to calm down until EMS arrived on scene, at which point they would try to persuade the man to voluntarily go with EMS under the Mental Health Act,” said ASIRT.
About 25 minutes after police had arrived, the man was seen brandishing a knife and axe, and came onto his balcony speaking randomly of “killing lots of people” before telling officers if he had a gun “I would shoot you all.”
After leaping from the balcony to confront an officer who’d drawn his gun, the man threatened to cut the CPS member’s head off, said ASIRT.
Disregarding repeated orders to drop his axe, the man advanced on the officer, imploring him to shoot him, which was overheard “not just by those at the rear of the residence but also by officers and paramedics staged at the front of the building,” said the report.
When he’d gotten within a metre or two of the officer, he was shot once in the torso. The man died a few hours later after undergoing surgery.
Officers recovered an axe and kitchen knife from the snow near where the man had been shot, while another knife was found beneath the balcony and two other blades were recovered from his clothing.
Alcohol and THC were present in the dead man’s blood, stated ASIRT, which concluded the officers’ actions were self-defence.
“While the man was undoubtedly in the midst of a mental health crisis and potentially suicidal, he was not only capable of causing grievous bodily harm or death, he was threatening to do so,” the police watchdog wrote.