Regina police officers cleared in 2024 fatal shooting on Garry Street

SIRT has concluded its investigation into a 2024 officer-involved shooting on Garry Street in Regina.

Saskatchewan’s Serious Incident Response Team (SIRT) has cleared the Regina police officers involved in a fatal shooting that left a man dead two years ago.

The police watchdog released its report on the incident on Tuesday.

On the afternoon of Sunday, May 19, 2024, SIRT was dispatched after an officer-involved shooting was reported on the 1100 block of Garry Street.

In the days leading up to the fatal encounter, the Regina Police Service (RPS) said it received numerous reports of the affected person, a 65-year-old man, damaging neighbouring properties.

One of the incidents consisted of the affected person destroying a section of fence with a chainsaw. Through a database search, officers learned the affected person was found guilty of assault with a weapon in 2007 and was the suspect of a 2008 assault investigation.

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The affected person was also the subject of a complaint in 2020 where he allegedly threatened to shoot someone if they didn’t leave his property.

After officers responded to the area on May 18 and failed to find the man - patrol officers returned the following day at around 1 p.m. to arrest the affected person on a charge of mischief under $5,000.

When he was informed he was under arrest and was ordered to step outside his home, the affected person allegedly refused and threatened police.

Officers contained the area while working to get a warrant to enter the home. In the meantime, RPS’s Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) responded to the scene.

At around 3:35 p.m., a “confrontation” took place between the affected person and two RPS officers.

According to the report, a marked RPS vehicle was struck by several gunshots – which led the two officers to fire their weapons and strike the affected person.

Paramedics with RPS were stationed nearby and responded immediately. The affected person was declared dead at the scene at around 3:41 p.m.

An autopsy later determined the man’s cause of death to be a single gunshot wound to the torso.

The investigation

In its report, SIRT noted the sequence of events were confirmed through interviews of officers and nearby witnesses. Additionally, video evidence was collected from nearby homes and those who observed the incident.

A total of 10 residents and 18 officers were listed as witnesses for the investigation.

Officers arrived at the affected person’s home at approximately 1:07 p.m. following another report of the affected person damaging neighbouring properties.

After knocking on the door, the affected person answered and stated words to the effect of, “Unless you have a search warrant and I am under arrest, you can get the f*** off my property,” before slamming the door closed.

Once the officers told the affected person he was under arrest and that he needed to come outside, he responded by threatening police, allegedly saying:

“If you do not get off my property, I will come outside and shoot you.”

According to the report, the affected person possessed a firearms license and owned several guns.

In addition to the handgun used during the incident, two rifles and a shotgun were found in various places inside the affected person’s home.

In response to the threat, officers backed away and requested backup in the form of SWAT and crisis negotiators.

At this point, police called the affected person. During the call, the man told police he was prepared to take matters into his own hands and hung up. A subsequent call ended after the man told police he was loading his guns and that they should enter his house to get him.

At around 2:45 p.m., SWAT members relieved the initial officers at the scene and took positions around the home.

At 3:35 p.m., the man emerged from the home’s front door, raised a pistol, and began shooting at one of the police vehicles in the area.

It was at this point the man was shot by police. He would be declared dead minutes later.

In addition to numerous firearms, the report also noted that a handwritten will was found inside the home by police following the shooting.

Verdict

Ultimately, SIRT investigators found there were lawful grounds to arrest the man for the repeated damage he caused to his neighbours’ property.

Additionally, the verbal threats towards police, paired with the affected person’s criminal history, was found to be sufficient reason for police actions such as the call for SWAT.

Finally, investigators determined the man firing a handgun at a police vehicle was rightly perceived to pose a “risk of death or grievous bodily harm” for the officers involved and nearby residents.

SIRT investigators noted the possibility that the affected person was attempting to provoke a lethal police action rather than actually trying to injure or kill anyone.

“Given the totality of the circumstances and the speed at which those actions occurred, there was no reasonable way for police to have determined the affected person’s true intentions, or any realistic opportunity to do so,” the report read.

“… Regardless of the affected person’s actual intentions, which will never be known, the information available to police, based both on their prior knowledge of the affected person and his discharge of gunshots, sufficiently establish a degree of risk which warranted the immediate and serious response by police.”

In conclusion, SIRT found no grounds to believe police acted improperly during the incident.