Victim’s sister claims police shooting ‘ unjust’
With a new job, a new car and a looming exam for his electrician’s masters certification, Anthony Heffernan was looking ahead.
The 27- year- old Calgary man had big plans — returning to school to pursue an engineering degree and, eventually, finding someone to start a family with.
“He had more hope for his life than most people I know,” his sister Natalie Iaquinta said.
All those plans were cut short Monday when Heffernan was shot dead by police in a motel room in northeast Calgary.
Police say they were “confronted with a high risk situation” and were unable to subdue Heffernan with less lethal force. His family thinks it could have been different.
“It was unjust,” Iaquinta said. “The punishment did not suit the crime.”
Anthony Heffernan grew up in Saskatchewan as the youngest of five in a tightly knit, religious family.
“He was a beautiful baby,” recalled Iaquinta with a smile. “He just brought joy as soon as he walked into the room.”
He was hard working, charismatic and everybody’s best friend. By 21, he had acquired his journeyman electrician’s ticket.
Still, Heffernan had his struggles, fighting an addiction to drugs that would eventually lead police to his Super 8 motel room on Monday.
“He hated his addiction so much,” said Heffernan’s brother Grant. “Every day he was trying to beat it, with support through us. He talked to our parents every day on the phone before we went to sleep.”
His family knew of Heffernan’s battle with drugs and tried their best to support him. They recall that he would bounce back from the bad times with zeal, determined to keep looking forward.
When Heffernan last relapsed, he checked himself into the Super 8 on Sunday night, his sister says.
“He did it because this is something that he did in private,” Iaquinta said. “He didn’t do this with other people, he would never bring it around anyone else.”
The Heffernan family said the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team has told them what it understands to have happened that day. ASIRT confirmed to the Herald the organization has spoken with the family, but declined to say what was discussed.
Iaquinta said they understand a maid and a manager both came up to Heffernan’s fourth- floor room to check on him when he failed to check out of the motel on time. He had latched the door, so they were unable to get into the room.
The motel then called police to check on him and five officers arrived along with paramedics at around 3 p. m. Police tried to communicate with Heffernan through the slightly open door, but he was unresponsive.
“We don’t know what they decided to do before they went into the hotel room,” said Iaquinta.
About 40 minutes later, police forced their way into the room, she said. Heffernan reportedly put his hands up to surrender, holding a syringe in one hand and a lighter in the other. Police told him to drop the items, but he didn’t.
“He perhaps couldn’t,” said Iaquinta, wondering whether the drugs had “trapped him inside his body.” Iaquinta said police deployed a controlled energy weapon and Heffernan fell back onto the bed. He then stood up, pulled off the probes and apparently “lurched” toward police.
Iaquinta said her brother was shot once in the chest and three times in the head. A fifth shot went out the window.
The family found out about Heffernan’s death about 12 hours later.
Though his funeral is set for next week, Iaquinta said closure is impossible when there are too many unanswered questions.
“We’re coping because Anthony’s life meant something and he was a whole person who struggled, and we’re coping because we want his memory known and we want to be strong for him,” Iaquinta said.
The family said it has forgiven the police officer who fired the shots. “We continue to pray for the police officers, we pray for the officer that shot him,” said Heffernan’s uncle Paul Heffernan.
But they want to know whether police followed the correct protocol for dealing with people who are under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and whether that protocol should be reviewed. They question whether paramedics could have helped Heffernan, and if the situation could have been dealt with differently.
“We would like to get to the bottom of things so that another family doesn’t have to go through what we have went through,” Paul Heffernan said.
“The way our family views things is that nothing happens, no evil can happen, without God being involved. God can bring good out of the worst evil.”