PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – The mother of a man shot and killed by police in northern Saskatchewan says she took her granddaughter out of the house before officers arrived.
Ryan Natomagan-Nelson, who was 27, was shot by police at a housing complex on the east side of Prince Albert on July 9, 2013.
A coroner’s inquest heard testimony Tuesday from Mary Jane Natomagan, Ryan’s mother.
She said her son was at his sister Clarissa Nelson’s home with his then-girlfriend, Jasmine Schellenberg, the night he got shot.
Natomagan says the couple had been together on and off for nearly a decade and during that time both struggled with alcoholism and drug addiction.
She says she went over to the home, heard fighting downstairs and saw Nelson passed out on the couch and her young daughter cowering in the corner, so she took her granddaughter and left.
The inquiry has heard that Schellenberg ran from the house and Natomagan followed, tackling her and punching her numerous times in the head. She then went to a neighbour to get them to call the police.
Const. Brock James Acorn was called to provide backup before the shooting.
He testified he heard his co-worker say “shots fired” over the radio while en route, but he didn’t know who had been shot.
When he arrived, he went to the basement, where two officers were on either side of Natomagan. Acorn says Natomagan was alive and appeared to be panicking and was trying to get up.
Paramedics were called and Natomagan was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead.
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