FISHING LAKE FIRST NATION — An officer has been cleared of any wrongdoing following a SIRT investigation into an officer-involved fatality on Fishing Lake First Nation, according to SIRT's report of March 2, 2026.
On Sept. 24, 2024, the Saskatchewan Serious Incident Response Team (SIRT) received a notification from the Saskatchewan RCMP regarding an officer-involved fatality that had taken place that afternoon on Fishing Lake First Nation.
On that day at approximately 11:30 a.m., RCMP received a report that a 34-year-old man, subsequently referred to as the affected person, who was wanted in connection with several recent robberies and had been the subject of recent public bulletins, had been seen on the Fishing Lake First Nation, according to the SIRT report.
At approximately 1 p.m., police observed a white van and received information that it was being operated by the affected person.
Police attempted a traffic stop on the van, which failed to stop and continued at a high rate of speed. As this was occurring, RCMP received a call from an individual reporting that the affected person had just stolen the white van, which belonged to the local school. The caller also stated they believed the affected person to be armed with a firearm.
The pursuit of the van continued through the Fishing Lake First Nation and surrounding area before the van returned to a residence on the First Nation. The van slowed and RCMP vehicles attempted to intercept.
At one point, the affected person positioned the van perpendicularly to the approaching ERT (Emergency Response Team) vehicle and was observed by the Subject Officer to raise a shotgun from within the vehicle and point the barrel out the driver’s side window of the van. The subject officer drew his service pistol and fired several rounds through the windshield of the ERT vehicle towards the affected person, with one shot striking the affected person in the left arm, causing a non-fatal injury.
The van continued around the residence and drove through a wooded area and along a narrow path toward another residential area of the First Nation, where an RCMP vehicle made contact with the van, which came to a stop. The affected person was observed to be inside the van and unresponsive. The affected person was removed from the van by police, who provided first aid until the arrival of EMS, who pronounced him dead.
A Mossberg pump-action 20-gauge shotgun was recovered from beneath the affected person in the van, with a spent shell in the chamber.
Numerous physical exhibits were seized during the course of SIRT’s investigation, with some submitted for further analysis as the investigation proceeded. These exhibits included the shotgun recovered from the van occupied by the affected person. The shotgun had a single spent round inside the chamber, and was seized along with a quantity of ammunition.
An autopsy was conducted, which determined the affected person’s cause of death to be a shotgun wound to the head.
In the analysis, it was noted the cause of the affected person’s death was determined to be the result of a single shotgun wound to the head. A significant volume of evidence gathered during the course of SIRT’s investigation assists in the determination that this single shotgun wound was self-inflicted and occurred following the discharge of firearms by police.
In the end, SIRT said in its report there are "no grounds to believe an offence was committed" by the subject officer.
