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An RCMP officer who shot a man in the arm near the village of Canwood in 2025 has been found to be acting lawfully by a Serious Incident Response Team (SIRT) investigation.
A team of six investigators from SIRT — a civilian-led, independent body that investigates incidents where a person has died or suffered serious injury arising from the actions of on and off-duty police officers — determined in an April 10 report that no offence was committed by any police officer in the shooting on May 28, 2025.
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SIRT was called in after a 32-year-old man was treated in hospital for a gunshot wound which fractured his left arm after a police chase and confrontation where the RCMP officer fired two rounds from a service pistol.
In the incident, members of the RCMP’s Warrant Enforcement and Suppression Team (WEST) had attempted to stop an SUV they said was associated with a person wanted after firearms incidents on James Smith Cree Nation around that time, but it drove off.
At various points during the ensuing pursuit the SUV left the road and travelled through fields, finally coming to a stop after hitting an embankment in a pasture, the SIRT report said, before the driver got out holding a silver handgun.
The RCMP officer told the driver to show his hands, but the man remained behind the vehicle and moved from the front to the rear then back again.
The officer then fired twice through the front windows of the SUV, with one round hitting the man in the arm causing him to fall to the ground. The SIRT report said that as he fell the man threw the handgun toward the rear of the vehicle, and once on the ground he threw away a bag that was later found to hold the loaded magazine for the gun.
The report said the actions of the man after he got out of the SUV were “capable of giving rise to a reasonable fear of death or grievous bodily harm” on the part of the RCMP officer and his actions in response to that perceived risk — firing his pistol — were reasonable.
While the handgun brandished by the driver was later found to be unloaded, the SIRT report said there was no reasonable way for the Mountie to know that “given the nature of the incident and the speed with which it unfolded.”
The report said that the RCMP officer voluntarily gave SIRT an interview for their investigation. The man who was shot would not talk to investigators but gave written consent for the release of his medical records.
Video footage of the incident was obtained, SIRT said in its report, including from body cams worn by Mounties and the RCMP vehicles involved. The footage showed the RCMP pursuit of the SUV, the driver’s actions after the vehicle was stopped and the shots fired by the Mountie.
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