ASIRT investigating shooting involving Okotoks RCMP

The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) logo can be seen in this undated file photo. (File)

Alberta’s police watchdog is investigating a shooting involving RCMP officers after a brief standoff south of Calgary.

The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) says Mounties were called to a home on Patterson Road in Okotoks on Feb. 11 just after 2 p.m., where a man reported his parents had been abducted and were in danger.

“When officers arrived, they found the man standing on the roof of the house and a ladder positioned against the porch roof. He refused to come down,” the police watchdog said in a news release.

They say police spoke with the man’s wife while other officers checked on his parents and confirmed they were safe.

Police were told the man had a shovel and a baseball bat with him on the roof, while police bodycam footage later showed the man was holding a knife.

ASIRT says RCMP requested assistance from the Rural Police and Crisis Team (RPACT), which arrived on scene and notified the man he was being apprehended under the Mental Health Act. He then pushed the ladder aside to prevent officers from accessing the roof.

The oversight body says officers called Okotoks Fire and Rescue to assist and an RPACT officer climbed a fire ladder onto the roof around 3:21 p.m.

It says an altercation occurred on the roof and the RPACT officer deployed a conducted energy weapon and fired their gun several times, striking the man once on the side of his body.

It says the man surrendered his knife shortly after, and his mother climbed onto the roof and took two more knives from him, which she threw to the ground.

“After police told the man he was under arrest for possession of a weapon, officers continued negotiations with him for about one hour. The man eventually climbed down from the roof and police took him into custody,” the release said.

Officers provided first aid until EMS took over medical care. At the time of the incident, the RCMP said they expected the man to recover.

ASIRT says it is investigating the event as a Level 1 matter, which the Police Act defines as a case involving serious injury, death or serious or sensitive allegations relating to the actions of an officer.