Man, woman shot on Deerfoot Trail well-known to Calgary police

CALGARY- A man who died and a woman who was critically injured in a police shooting on Deerfoot Trail Friday night after a dangerous joyride in the southeast were charged in a similar incident last year.

34-year-old Jason Gary Roy and 26-year-old Ashley Jennifer Silver were shot by police on southbound Deerfoot Trail near McKenzie Lake Boulevard S.E. after their pickup truck rammed into police vehicles in an attempt to escape.

Police say more than a dozen shots were fired at the truck. Roy died at the scene and Silver was rushed to hospital in critical condition.

Last March, both Roy and Silver were charged with dangerous driving and assault with a weapon after a police chase on the Trans-Canada highway in the Canmore area. During the chase, an RCMP vehicle was rammed twice.

Friday night’s chain of events began with reports of shots fired in the 1400 block of Copperfield Blvd. S.E. at around 9:15 p.m.

As officers neared the location they were alerted to a pickup driving erratically, including running red lights, driving on sidewalks and crashing into moving vehicles.

Police pursued the truck with the help of a HAWC helicopter to the southbound lanes of Deerfoot. The truck tried to cross the barrier into the northbound lanes and when that failed it turned around and headed north on the southbound lanes.

Police boxed in the pickup near McKenzie Lake Blvd. and when an officer approached the vehicle, the male driver accelerated and rammed into the police vehicles.

Two officers began shooting, firing at least 15 bullets at the truck.

Calgary Police Chief Rick Hanson told a news conference Saturday afternoon he is confident the officers took the proper course of action.

Hanson says one of the two officers who fired at the truck has 18 years experience. The second officer has 12 years experience and was involved in a police shooting around two and a half years ago.