ASIRT investigation underway into police-involved shooting at CTrain station

Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (File Photo)

The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) has launched an investigation into a shooting at a Calgary CTrain station earlier this week.

Around 11:30 a.m. on Dec. 16, a man holding a knife approached a city bylaw officer sitting in a vehicle outside the Dalhousie station.

The bylaw officer contacted police, who they say approached the man on a walkway to the CTrain station, still armed with a knife. One police officer was armed with a handgun and a second officer with a rifle.

Police say the officer armed with a handgun brought out a conducted energy weapon (CEW) instead and pointed it at the man.

They say they instructed him to drop the knife and get down on the ground, but say the man instead moved towards them with the knife in his hand.

Police say one officer fired his CEW and the second fired his rifle, striking the man.

They said the man fell down and they immediately started first aid until paramedics transported him to hospital with serious but stable injuries.

“Our members acted swiftly to protect the public in this very dangerous situation,” Calgary police chief Katie McLellan said.

No officers or bystanders were hurt.

A 23-year-old man was charged with three counts of assaulting a peace officer with a weapon, one count of possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose and two counts of failure to comply with a release order.

He is scheduled to appear in court Dec. 19.

The investigation is ongoing, and ASIRT won’t release any other information at this time.

McLellan, speaking to the media following the shooting on Tuesday, said the ASIRT investigation limited how many details she could reveal.

“While I cannot speak to the specifics in this case, we know our officers are regularly faced with incidents that are unpredictable and can escalate very quickly,” McLellan said.

“Our members are well-trained to deal with situations like these, and 99 per cent of the time, they are resolved peacefully.”

With files from CTV Calgary’s Teri Fikowski and Damien Wood