PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – One of the police officers who fatally wounded a man in northern Saskatchewan says he fired his weapon only after Ryan Natomagan-Nelson lunged at him, shouting “do it”
Const. Dwight Leblue told a fatality inquiry on Wednesday that he and another officer were called to reports of an assault and went to the home of Natomagan-Nelson’s sister to look for him.
Leblue says the suspect was in a small basement bathroom, holding a knife. The other officer fired two shots.
He said they were in very tight quarters and a Taser or pepper spray wouldn’t have stopped the threat without putting the officers in jeopardy.
Natomagan-Nelson, 27, later died in hospital.
Leblue says he and his colleague announced their presence when they entered the home but received no reply.
In previous testimony, Natomagan-Nelson’s mother says she had taken her granddaughter out of the house shortly before the officers arrived because she heard fighting downstairs.
Mary Jane Natomagan said her son had been in an on-again, off-again relationship with his girlfriend, Jasmine Schellenberg.
She said they both struggled with alcoholism and drug addiction.
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