Alberta police watchdog clears RCMP officers in fatal 2023 Fort McMurray shooting
FORT MCMURRAY, AB. – The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team has concluded RCMP officers acted lawfully when they fatally shot an armed man during a violent domestic incident in Fort McMurray in September 2023.
In a report released Wednesday, ASIRT executive director Michael Ewenson determined the officers’ use of force was justified under sections 25 and 34 of the Criminal Code. The incident occurred on Sept. 27, 2023, when police responded to reports of a man firing a shotgun in the Beaconwood Place neighborhood.
According to witness statements in the ASIRT report, the man, who was under an emergency protection order, arrived as his ex-partner was attempting to enter their former home with a locksmith. Witnesses reported the man assaulted his ex-partner, shot her in the arm with birdshot, then chased her through the neighborhood while reloading his shotgun and making threats.
Police video evidence showed the man sitting in his vehicle with the shotgun, appearing to hold it to his head while talking on the phone. Officers repeatedly commanded him to drop the weapon. The situation escalated when the man reversed his vehicle toward police, prompting an officer to ram the vehicle to immobilize it.
“The subject officers were defending themselves and fellow officers from [the man] who was armed with a shotgun and had already demonstrated his willingness to use it,” Ewenson wrote in the report. “Their response was proportionate, necessary and reasonable in all the circumstances.”
Investigators recovered 55 spent shotgun shells at the scene. The wounded woman received medical treatment and survived her injuries.
ASIRT’s investigation, which took nearly two years to complete, found no evidence of unlawful conduct by the officers involved. No charges will be filed.
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