Mounties released new details Saturday about a violent Christmas Day rampage that ended with police shooting and killing a 37-year-old Red Deer man.
According to RCMP, the man was shot and killed by police after being suspected of sexually assaulting a 47-year-old woman and trying to kill a 20-year-old man and subsequently going on a rampage with a stolen front-end loader in Red Deer, Alberta. The two victims, who police said knew one another, have received medical attention and are expected to survive.
“The deceased had been sought by the RCMP since early that morning with regard to a serious sexual assault and an attempted murder from earlier in the morning,” said Insp. Gibson Glavin of the RCMP. “The sexual assault upon a female and the attempted murder upon a male. The male had been trying to protect the female from the original assault.”
WATCH ABOVE: RCMP release new details on fatal shooting during Christmas Day rampage in Red Deer
Mounties said the officer-involved shooting took place just outside Red Deer at around 2 p.m. Friday after the suspect crashed into a number of vehicles with a front-end loader they said was stolen from an industrial park.
READ MORE: Alberta man fatally shot by police after Christmas Day rampage
“That front-end loader had also collided with an unoccupied police car shortly before the shooting and as well, about an hour or 90 minutes before this event, the suspect who ended up being shot and was deceased on scene, was also involved in a collision with several other vehicles near towards Sylvan Lake in the Burnt Lake area,” said Glavin. “In that case, (the suspect) came into a collision with an occupied civilian truck and a police car as well at that time.”
They said the occupants inside that truck were not seriously hurt. Witnesses told Global News that a number of pickup trucks could be seen on their side or seriously damaged near the Baker Hughes Company site.
Police said their officers’ confrontation with the suspect ended in a field near Range Road 273 and Township Road 391.
The RCMP will continue to investigate the sexual assault and attempted murder but as with all other serious incidents involving police in Alberta, the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) is now investigating the the deadly police shooting.
In a release issued Saturday afternoon, ASIRT provided more details on how it believes the shooting transpired. Alberta’s police watchdog said police were trying to find the man suspected of both the sexual assault and the attempted murder and eventually tracked him down in a stolen vehicle in Sylvan Lake at about 11:30 a.m. Friday. When officers tried to pull him over, the suspect reversed into a police cruiser, making it not driveable. The suspect then fled the scene.
According to ASIRT, RCMP officers patrolling an industrial area in north Red Deer then spotted the stolen vehicle at around 1 p.m. The officers then saw a man enter a front-end loader and drive through a fence, onto a highway and into an adjoining lot where it collided with a number of vehicles.
More officers were called in and began to pursue the front-end loader when it eventually collided with a police cruiser. ASIRT said at that point, two officers fired several shots and the loader veered into a field, going in circles before it crashed into a tree. Mounties saw the driver was slumped over and turned the loader off. Paramedics found the man bleeding and unresponsive and pronounced him dead at the scene.
“It’s procedure and common sense for the police, if they consider that the public is in imminent danger of harm or death – we are authorized to use sufficient force to stop that,” said Glavin. “That often involves drawing our service pistol.”
ASIRT said the suspect was known to police. The police watchdog said it will not comment further on the matter until its investigation is complete.
Police said the suspect knew both of his alleged victims and that they’re not identifying him in order to protect the victims’ identities.
RCMP asked the public to come forward if they have any information or video or photos related to the incidents.
If you have information to share with police, you’re asked to call Red Deer RCMP at 403.343.5575 or your local police or Crimestoppers.
Witnesses are also asked to contact ASIRT at 403-592-4306.
With files from the Canadian Press
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