1 man dead, RCMP officer seriously injured after incident in Truro

One man is dead after being shot by an RCMP officer in Truro, N.S., early Saturday morning, and an officer is in hospital with serious injuries after being struck by a vehicle driven by the man.

RCMP were investigating a call about a vehicle that was stolen in Cumberland County, which is about 175 kilometres north of Halifax. 

An RCMP officer located the vehicle while on patrol in Truro, about 100 kilometres north of Halifax, around 2:30 a.m. and tried to stop it.

The man driving the vehicle hit the male police officer, who was not inside a police vehicle at the time. 

The officer then shot his gun at the driver, who was declared dead at the scene.

The officer has serious, but non-life-threatening injuries.

RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Jennifer Clarke said she could not disclose details about the man who died or about any exchange between the man and the officer before gun was fired.

"This is quite a complex investigation…. There were several attempts that were made to locate the vehicle and several cues that the police officers in general may have taken from the situation that helped the police officer get to that decision," Clarke said.

The driver was alone at the time.

On Monday, Aug. 12, the province's police watch dog confirmed two officers were at the scene, including the injured man.

Clarke said she doesn't know if the driver had any weapons on hand.

The province's Serious Incident Response Team, a body that investigates serious incidents involving police, has been called in.

"It involved the police, but I can't say anything until I know something," said SIRT director Felix Cacchione. "And right now, I'm not disturbing the investigators in doing their job."

Boyd Higgins says he was woken up by sirens early this morning and later heard there was a shooting.

"It's a shame and it's scary because stuff really doesn't happen like that a lot around here and it's a shame when anyone gets hurt, but RCMP is there to help us, so it's kind of double hard."

Joey McIntyre lives on Willow Street, near where the incident occurred. He said he heard a loud sound around 2:45 a.m. and thought it was thunder. When he got out of bed and looked out his window, he saw a flash of light and thought a police car had pulled someone over.

After learning the incident involved a shooting, McIntyre said it was scary.

"I could have been going home sometime that morning and it could have happened to one of us," he said. "It's a very, very sad situation."

Truro police closed Willow Street between the Best Western Truro Glengarry hotel and the Lawtons drugstore. It reopened around 3:30 p.m.