Police in Alberta are continuing to search for witnesses after a violent Christmas Day chase that ended with police shooting and killing a 37-year-old Red Deer man.
“We have had very little response from the public in answer to our plea for witnesses,” RCMP Inspector Gibson Glavin said Thursday. “We chalk this up to not a lack of interest, but that it had been early Christmas day.”
RCMP previously said the man had been shot and killed by police after a suspected sexual assault involving a 47-year-old woman, and an attempt to kill a 20-year-old man.
“There was an intimate relationship between the deceased and the female,” Glavin said Thursday. “The deceased knew the male, as well. That male had been trying to protect the female; that’s how he sustained his injuries.”
Watch below: Global’s coverage and viewer video of the Christmas Day rampage in Red Deer. Warning: Some video contains graphic language.
Police said the victims are recovering, but suggested both are emotionally and physically traumatized.
After the attack on the woman and man, the suspect allegedly stole a front-end loader from a Red Deer industrial park. Police said he then crashed into a number of vehicles, including a police car and a civilian truck (though the occupants were unhurt). Witnesses told Global News at the time that a number of pickup trucks could be seen on their side or seriously damaged near the Baker Hughes Company site.
Police said officers’ confrontation with the suspect ended with his death in a field near Range Road 273 and Township Road 391.
The RCMP will continue to investigate the sexual assault and attempted murder; the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) is also investigating the fatal police shooting.
ASIRT said after the front-end loader hit the police car, two officers fired several shots and the loader veered into a field, going in circles before it crashed into a tree. ASIRT said 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.
Glavin said police have found several witnesses through their own investigation that have been “helpful” but continue to search for information, photos or videos related to the incident.
READ MORE: Witness to part of Alberta rampage on Christmas Day says she was ‘shocked’
If you have information to share with police, you’re asked to call Red Deer RCMP at 403-343-5575, your local police or Crimestoppers.
Witnesses are also asked to contact ASIRT at 403-592-4306.
With files from Global’s Phil Heidenreich
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