Mounties won’t be charged in Christmas Day shooting death at Strathmore gas station

The suspect jumps over a snowbank in front of an RCMP vehicle, while holding the hammer in his right hand. (ASIRT)

Two Alberta Mounties won’t be charged in the fatal shooting of a man at a Strathmore gas station, despite the province’s police watchdog determining there were “reasonable grounds” to believe an offence had been committed.

According to a report from the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT), released on Wednesday, RCMP were called to the gas station at 3:15 a.m. on Christmas Day 2022 over concerns about an intoxicated man.

Officers tried for 38 minutes to get the man to leave the store and eventually attempted to arrest him.

‘Shoot me now’

According to the report, the man became “agitated and physically resistive” to handcuffs.

While trying to arrest the suspect, the officers deployed their conducted energy weapons six times, which ASIRT said “had no effect.”

The report states that during the struggle, the suspect attempted to punch one of the officers and hit him with his own expandable baton.

“The (suspect) then collected a tire hammer and a 19-inch wooden club from the store’s automative area displays and aggressively approached the officers while telling them, ‘You guys are going to have to shoot me now.’”

The officers retreated outside and radioed for support.

Waiting for reinforcements

ASIRT says while waiting for backup to arrive, the suspect damaged the inside of the store, used a tire hammer to hit himself on the forehead several times, then came outside and smashed the driver’s side window of one of the unoccupied police vehicles.

Officers used pepper spray on the suspect, causing him to head back inside.

The report states the suspect returned outside when officers from Chestermere and Gleichen arrived.

According to the report, one of the arriving officers was getting out of his vehicle when the suspect ran toward him with the tire hammer.

The report states that the officer “gave loud commands” for the suspect to stop, but he kept advancing, so the officer fired five consecutive rounds at the suspect, causing him to fall to the ground.

‘Getting back up’

The report says the suspect then started “getting back up” while still holding the tire hammer, despite being directed to “stop” and “get down.”

ASIRT says the officer then discharged a sixth round, causing the suspect to “fall back and lay on the ground unmoving for a few seconds.”

‘Sat upright’

A second officer ran to help, heading to the rear of the Mountie’s vehicle with his gun drawn.

The report states the suspect then “suddenly sat upright and got himself to a standing position while holding onto the hammer.”

According to ASIRT, the suspected hopped to the driver’s side of a RCMP vehicle left unlocked with keys still in the ignition, at which time a seventh shot was fired.

“The [suspect] continued to hold onto the hammer and grab onto the open driver’s side door while seemingly moving to enter the vehicle despite repeated commands to ‘drop the hammer’ and to ‘get on the ground.’”

ASIRT says both officers discharged “multiple consecutive rounds” causing the suspect to fall onto the driver’s seat of the police vehicle.

“[The suspect] continued to be somewhat resistive – trying to sit up and push away from officers – as they approached the vehicle and removed the tire hammer from his hand and the key from the vehicle’s ignition,” the report said.

The suspect later died.

‘Multiple gunshot wounds’

An autopsy determined though the suspect sustained “multiple gunshot wounds,” the cause of death was one to his left arm that “involved the chest” and a shot to the right thigh.

Toxicology reports found alcohol, fentanyl, methamphetamine and cocaine in the suspect’s blood.

‘Reasonable to believe’

ASIRT’s investigation found there were reasonable grounds to believe the officers had committed an offence.

As such, the matter was referred to the Alberta Crown Prosecution Service for an opinion on whether charges should be laid.

The Crown, however, did not recommend charges.

In the report, the Crown noted it is bound by different standards than ASIRT when it comes to “assessing the viability of charges arising out of an investigation.”

For the Crown, there needs to be a “reasonable likelihood of convictism.”

“As is evident in this case, the application of these two different standards to the same investigation will, in some cases, result in different conclusions regarding the same file.”

In ASIRT’s report, acting executive director Matthew Block concluded that, in accordance with the opinion provided by the Crown, ASIRT would not be laying charges against the officers involved.