RED EARTH CREE NATION — An RCMP officer has not been found to be involved in any wrongdoing after a fatal shooting at Red Earth Cree Nation.
The Serious Incident Response Team (SIRT) concluded its investigation into the matter.
On Dec. 19, 2023, at about 3:41 a.m., members of the Carrot River RCMP detachment, the Nipawin RCMP detachment and the Provincial Protective Services (PPS) branch responded to multiple reports of gunshots on Red Earth Cree Nation.
Two people were located and taken into custody.
A third person, a 25-year-old man, referred to as the affected person, who was the subject of the calls, was located.
When police found the individual, a firearm was discharged, striking the driver's side window area of one RCMP vehicle, causing a non-life-threatening injury to an RCMP officer.
A firearm was discharged again and the affected person sustained a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
A short time later, the RCMP drone operator observed the man rise to his feet, retrieve the shotgun and walk west towards the police.
An RCMP officer used a loudspeaker to order the man to stop and drop the firearm.
The affected person didn't respond to the commands and instead kept walking towards an RCMP officer.
Then, at 6:34 a.m. the man raised the shotgun to his shoulder and aimed towards an RCMP member.
Another RCMP officer, the subject officer, discharged several rounds from his firearm causing the man to fall to the ground.
While lying on the ground, the man attempted to reach for his firearm again, and at about 6:35 a.m. the same officer fired a second volley of shots.
Then, several RCMP officers ran towards the affected person, removed the firearm and commenced first aid and called for EMS assistance.
At about 7:53 a.m., EMS pronounced the man dead at the scene.
SIRT concluded that the shooting of the affected person was justified.
Prior to the incident, the man was reported to have shot at a residence and killed a dog.
During the incident, which included the discharge of the shotgun at a police vehicle, "created an objectively reasonable perception of a risk of death or grievous bodily harm to the involved police officers as the incident unfolded," SIRT said.
"With all factors, including the nature of the threat presented by the affected person's actions, taken into account, the force applied by the subject officer during the incident falls within the range protected by law and provides no reasonable grounds to believe that an offence was committed by any police officer during the incident," the report states. "As a result of the application of the facts established by the evidence to the standard established by law, no charges will be laid."
