Alberta's police watchdog to investigate after man shot by RCMP officer at Ponoka courthouse
Alberta Serious Incident Response Team to investigate, RCMP say
UPDATE: In a decision released on Nov. 14, 2024, ASIRT said the man had been walking through downtown Ponoka carrying a paintball gun that resembled a real handgun. He tried to get inside the provincial building. An RCMP officer told him to drop the gun but he pointed it at the officer, who then shot him.
ASIRT concluded that the officer's actions were justified, and that there are not reasonable grounds to believe that the officer committed a criminal offence. The man who was shot survived, and was interviewed by investigators four months later.
Alberta's policing watchdog is investigating after a 39-year-old man was shot by an RCMP officer Thursday morning outside a central Alberta courthouse.
The officer fired his gun around 9:30 a.m. during an altercation with an armed suspect outside of the Ponoka provincial court building.
RCMP Cpl. Troy Savinkoff said the shooting took place after police received a report of a person approaching the Ponoka RCMP detachment while holding a weapon.
The detachment, located downtown, is near the town's courthouse building, which was locked down after the shooting.
It's believed the man was near the courthouse by coincidence, Savinkoff said.
The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) has been called in to investigate, he said.
"At this time, we don't know what his motivations are," Savinkoff said in an interview with CBC News.
"Obviously, ASIRT will be investigating the officer's conduct as it relates to the confrontation itself," he said.
"Simultaneous to that, we will have RCMP officers who will be investigating the motivation as to why the individual was coming to the detachment, into that area, armed."
Savinkoff said he could not say whether the victim fired his weapon or how many shots were fired in the incident.
Officers on scene provided first aid to the victim until emergency medical services arrived, RCMP said.
The injured man was airlifted to Edmonton's University of Alberta Hospital with critical injuries, a spokesperson for STARS Air Ambulance told CBC News.
The officer was unharmed.
ASIRT investigates events where serious injury or death may have been caused by police, as well as serious or sensitive allegations of police misconduct.
Ponoka is about 100 kilometres south of Edmonton.
