A man who shot a police officer also fired at a helicopter and hijacked a truck before turning his gun on himself, the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team says. Friday, the province’s police watchdog ASIRT provided an update on its findings as it investigates a recent incident in Calgary. The incident unfolded midday Aug. 10 in and around Edworthy Park in the city’s southwest. It started with a traffic stop. ASIRT says the man ran away as the two officers got out of their vehicle and approached. ASIRT says he opened fire at the officers when they gave chase, “striking and injuring” one of them. Both returned fire, ASIRT says. Police Chief Katie McLellan has said “more than a hundred officers” attended. The response included a HAWCS helicopter. ASIRT affirms what police have said—the man “fired a round toward HAWCS.” “He then approached an occupied work truck nearby and forced the person out of the truck at gunpoint,” it said. “He drove the truck onto railroad tracks, and officers positioned along the tracks fired at him as he drove past. “The man then lost control of the truck, and it became stuck near the tracks.” ASIRT says the man ran to the river, gun in hand. “The man entered the river and shot himself,” it said. “The man was dead when officers on the ground located him a few minutes later. “Investigators recovered a handgun from the river the next day, near where officers found the man.” ASIRT’s investigation remains ongoing. McLellan has said the shot officer, who was taken to hospital, is now back at home. “He’s recovering physically,” she said. “But as you can imagine, there are lots of things to process as a result of that incident.” McLellan has called this a “frightening” incident that “could have had far more tragic consequences.”
