Yellow evidence markers, discarded medical equipment and stretches of caution tape marked the place where a man was shot to death Sunday night, after city police said he stabbed an officer in the throat with an “edged weapon.”
The Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba is now tasked with piecing together what led to the fatal shooting outside a bus shelter at the Unicity shopping centre.
The police watchdog, which reviews all serious incidents involving officers, has released no details about the man killed, except to say he was an adult and the shooting occurred around 5:09 p.m.
“Officers immediately started life-saving measures on the male, who was transported to Health Sciences Centre Winnipeg, where he was pronounced deceased,” the unit said in a news release Monday.
“The investigation is ongoing so no further details will be provided at this time.”
Unicity is home to numerous retail businesses. On Monday, some stores in the area had security guards or staff posted near the front doors when a Free Press reporter visited.
One employee, speaking anonymously, said she was still processing what happened.
“It was really scary for me. Even just talking about it, my heart is racing,” she said.
The woman said she was cleaning up inside her store after closing at 5 p.m. when she heard sirens and saw flashing lights. She stepped outside to see what was happening and saw CPR being performed on a person on the ground.
The worker said she didn’t know what had happened until a woman told her she had just witnessed a shooting.
The Winnipeg Police Service called a rare weekend news conference within hours of the incident, urging the public not to prematurely pass judgment as a video circulated on social media showing two officers shooting a suspect who exited the shelter.
The video shows police with their guns drawn. They yelled at the man to drop “the axe or the knife.” When he moved toward the officers, they fired multiple shots, the video shows.
“It’s important that that we all wait as a community to see what the details are.”–Scott Gillingham
WPS members were operating in the area as part of the retail theft initiative. The injured officer, a senior member of the force, was taken to hospital in stable condition, police said.
Drone footage captured Sunday night showed at least 21 police cruisers, three ambulances and two fire engines responded to the area around the bus shelter.
The IIU said it immediately deployed a team of investigators to the scene.
Zane Tessler, the unit’s former civilian director, said investigators will likely be working to identify and contact the person who captured the video. They will want to determine where and how it was captured, if it was edited and whether a longer version exists.
Like police, he urged the public not to jump to conclusions based on the video — warning assumptions can affect witness statements and the quality of other evidence.
“It’s an important piece of evidence. It’s an important fact and factor for the investigation itself, but by no means is it the end and be-all of the investigation just on its own,” Tessler said.
“It’s just one piece of the puzzle. We have to assemble everything that is available so that we have the best possible picture before us, at which point in time we are able to see if we can discern a rationale for what happened.”
Former Toronto police officer Steve Summerville, who previously taught the use of force at the Ontario Police College, reviewed the shooting footage at the request of the Free Press.
He said it appears the Winnipeg officers faced a clear and imminent threat from the armed man.
“You’ve just stabbed a police officer and there are two cops with guns pointed at you. Where do you think this is going?” said Summerville, who has testified more than 40 times as an expert witness on police use-of-force incidents in Canada.
“You cannot allow that person who has already attempted lethal force on an individual to harm somebody else.”
Summerville stressed the video clip provides limited context about what happened before and after the incident. He questioned where the injured police officer was at the time of the shooting and whether he was one of the two officers captured on video.
“I’m not a clinician, but … neither one of them appears to be showing any behaviour consistent with having being stabbed in the neck,” Summerville said.
The WPS did not respond to questions Monday asking them to clarify whether the injured officer was involved in the shooting. They also did not provide an update on his health status.
Police did not confirm whether the man who was shot had been identified or if his family had been notified.
Less-lethal weapons, such as a Taser, can fail to deploy or penetrate through layers of clothing, posing a threat to officers engaging with armed assailants in close quarters, the retired officer noted.
“You’ve just stabbed a police officer and there are two cops with guns pointed at you. Where do you think this is going?”–Steve Summerville
Summerville said the limited distance between the officers and his apparent unwillingness to comply with police commands also likely created a heightened sense of threat.
Police are trained to shoot at centre mass to eliminate threats and to reduce the likelihood of bullets missing and striking unintended targets. Officers are told to shoot until the threat is eliminated, he said.
Summerville said it did not appear to be a situation in which it would be appropriate to dispatch a mental-health professional alongside police, due to the high risk associated with the call.
Premier Wab Kinew said police officers have a difficult job to do.
“I want to take the opportunity to thank police officers across this province who go to work and keep us safe each and every day,” said Kinew.
“When we’re thinking about the holidays and people going to the malls and people going to the shopping areas around the province, people have got to be safe.”
Mayor Scott Gillingham called the shooting an “absolute tragedy” and echoed calls to wait for the IIU’s investigation to take its course before coming to conclusions.
“There’s some video circulating, but it apparently doesn’t show the whole picture, so I think it’s important that we all wait as a community to see what the details are that come out,” he said.
The IIU does not typically release information or respond to questions related to ongoing investigations. Final investigative reports are often limited and may be withheld entirely in some situations.
If the police watchdog charges an officer, the file is sent to the Manitoba Prosecution Service for the court proceedings.
— with files from Chris Kitching, Malak Abas and The Canadian Press
tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca
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The Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba is investigating at least 10 deaths that involved police in 2024, including Sunday’s shooting involving Winnipeg police. Here are the nine other incidents the IIU is investigating.
Nov. 22: Elgyn Muskego, 17, was fatally shot by an RCMP officer outside a home in Norway House Cree Nation. The IIU said a resident reported a male was high and armed with a weapon. RCMP said the youth was shot after he refused numerous orders to drop the weapon and advanced toward officers.
Oct. 2: Winnipeg police officers fatally shot a man inside an apartment building in the 800 block of Main Street in North Point Douglas. At the time, acting chief Art Stannard said the man was swinging “edged weapons” and banging on tenants’ doors before police arrived. Officers found the man in a hallway and deployed a Taser before he was shot with a firearm, police said.
Sept. 15: A 52-year-old man died in Winnipeg police custody. The IIU said the man was arrested on the 100 block of King Edward Street and taken to a police holding room after being medically cleared by a paramedic. He was later found unresponsive and taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Sept. 2: Tammy Bateman, who was in her 30s, died after she was hit by a Winnipeg police vehicle in Fort Rouge Park. The collision occurred when officers were driving along a path while returning a person to a homeless encampment, Stannard said at the time.
June 5: Tristan Mariash, 30, was shot dead by Winnipeg police officers during a pursuit that began in Winnipeg and continued south of the city. Police said officers opened fire when a stolen truck rammed a WPS vehicle in Otterburne. Mariash was pronounced dead after the driver ditched the truck — and him — at a Niverville gas station, police said.
May 24: An RCMP officer fatally shot a 51-year-old man on Highway 52 in the Rural Municipality of La Broquerie. Police said the man was assaulting a driver with an edged weapon when at least one officer responded to calls about a suspicious man. RCMP said the man was shot after he was told to step away but approached police with the weapon.
April 20: A man was shot and killed by RCMP in Sandy Bay First Nation. The shooting happened while officers were investigating a report of a man who was armed with a weapon and threatening a female, the IIU said.
Feb. 13: Winnipeg police fatally shot Bradley Singer, 59, inside a house on the 200 block of Magnus Avenue, while carrying out an order under the provincial Mental Health Act. Singer’s family said he was in a mental-health crisis when he was shot.
Jan. 28: The IIU was notified that a man died in hospital following an arrest by Winnipeg police the previous day. The WPS told the IIU that officers were called to a report of a disturbance and a man acting erratically on the 200 block of Fairlane Avenue. A brief “use-of-force encounter” occurred while the man was being handcuffed, and he became unresponsive while he was taken to a police vehicle, the IIU said.
Zane Tessler, the police watchdog’s former civilian director, said the number of recent fatality investigations will likely pose a challenge for the investigative unit.
The team currently consists of eight investigators, two team commanders and one director of investigations., according to the IIU website.
“I’m not trying to sugarcoat this. That’s a lot of work for an operation the size of the IIU. It’s not anything we haven’t experienced in the past,” Tessler said.
Tyler Searle
Reporter
Tyler Searle is a multimedia producer who writes for the Free Press‘s city desk. A graduate of Red River College Polytechnic’s creative communications program, he wrote for the Stonewall Teulon Tribune, Selkirk Record and Express Weekly News before joining the paper in 2022. Read more about Tyler.
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History
Updated on Monday, November 25, 2024 6:48 PM CST: Adds premier comment
Updated on Monday, November 25, 2024 8:07 PM CST: Adds credit
