Calgary’s police chief is attributing an increase in officer-involved shootings to a changing nature of crime in the city, citing the presence of meth and opioids on the city’s streets as driving factors.
In the first 11 months of 2016, Calgary police officers have fired their guns 10 times—that’s 7 more times than in all of 2015. Five people died following the confrontations.
The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) investigates all officer-involved shootings—and it releases details at their discretion, in concert with the Calgary Police Service.
Here is what we know about the 10 officer-involved incidents still under investigation in Calgary as of Nov. 29, 2016, based on information from ASIRT, CPS and witnesses who spoke to Global News:
November 29: A 27-year-old woman was killed by police after ASIRT said she was “acting erratically, banging on car windows and building doors carrying two knives, one in each hand” in the 1700 block of 11 Avenue S.W. at about 2:30 a.m. The call started as a check on welfare after someone reported a woman screaming. ASIRT said a “confrontation” between an officer and the woman resulted in the officer firing her gun. The woman was struck and collapsed, then taken to hospital by EMS where she died.
Watch below: Calgary Police Chief Const. Roger Chaffin responds to 10th officer involved shooting in 2016
November 22: Terrence Weinmeyer was killed in the Bowmont shopping mall parking lot in Montgomery after driving a stolen blue pickup truck from B.C. ASIRT said Weinmeyer rammed police vehicles as he tried to drive away from police. Two officers fired their guns, injuring Weinmeyer, who later died in hospital. Sources said Weinmeyer had a long history with police and was recently charged with possession of stolen property over $5,000.
Watch below: Store owners in the Montgomery strip mall describe the deadly police shooting that took place Tuesday as “traumatizing.” One couple was pulling into the parking lot with their five-year-old son moments before a man was shot and killed. Kim Smith has the story.
November 3: A 21-year-old man was sent to hospital after a confrontation with police spurred by reports of a stolen vehicle in the Dover area of 30 Avenue and 36 Street N.E. Police said they followed the stolen car into an alley, where a police officer was dragged by the Honda Civic during an incident. A second officer fired their gun, which hit the driver of the stolen car.
Watch below: The Alberta Serious Response Team is investigating the after an officer-involved shooting in the community of Dover. Doug Vaessen has details.
October 11: Seventy-six-year-old Bob Crowle was fatally shot by police during an incident that started with a screaming 911 call, followed by Crowle and another bloodied man wielding knives while a table saw ran next to a car with a hose venting exhaust into the back window. ASIRT said a 21-year-old man reported being attacked by a family member inside the home when officers arrived. ASIRT said officers found Crowle inside the garage, holding a large butcher knife. A “confrontation” occurred that resulted in a single shot fired that killed Crowle.
Watch below: ASIRT is investigating if the deadly shot fired from Calgary police was justified when they were called to a home in Sundance. Nancy Hixt reports.
October 4: Officers in the community of Huntington Hills spotted a stolen truck and began tracking it with the help of the HAWCS helicopter at around 2 a.m. The driver of the stolen truck then parked near a second truck on Blueridge Rise N.W. just west of 12 Mile Coulee Road, police said. Officers moved in on the vehicles as the driver of the stolen truck got in the second truck. The driver of the second truck surrendered, while the driver of the first vehicle drove away in the second truck. One officer fired at least one round, hitting the vehicle but injuring no one. The second truck was later found in Cochrane, where the driver was taken into custody.
Watch below: CPS Supt. James Hardy speaks to media about an officer-involved shooting that took place on Oct. 4.
September 17: William Casey, 23, was treated and released from hospital after suffering minor injuries, believed to be from broken glass after Calgary police tried to conduct a traffic stop at about 1 p.m. near the Blackfoot Truckstop at the 1800 block of 9 Avenue S.E. Police said the driver was acting suspicious as the officer was approaching the vehicle and the officer saw a rifle on the seat next to the driver. When he was asked not to move, the driver tried to take off and that’s when the officer fired their gun. The driver hit a gas line then jumped out and ran off on foot. Police chased him down and took him into custody. Casey was charged with multiple counts including assault.
Watch below: Calgary police summarize a police-involved shooting near the Blackfoot truck stop.
September 17: On the same day, a police officer was severely injured after a machete attack at the Marlborough Mall. The suspect, 24-year-old Antonio Philip Bautista, underwent emergency surgery after being shot by the officer.
Police responded to reports of a man “fighting and assaulting people with a weapon” in the mall parking lot at about 2:10 p.m. The suspect fled before officers arrived, but he was then spotted behind a dumpster.
Officers followed the suspect into the mall where the man pulled out a machete. ASIRT said the police officer used his Taser on the suspect but “it appeared to have no observable effect on the man.” When the officer pulled out his gun, the suspect struck him with a machete, ASIRT said. The suspect was then shot by the officer.
Bautista, who had been apprehended under the Mental Health Act just days before the incident, was charged with aggravated assault, among other counts.
The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team said May 15, 2017 the officer’s use of lethal force was reasonable and necessary given that the man had already struck the officer with the knife several times.
Watch below: There are questions if a violent attack in a Calgary mall over the weekend could have been prevented. Global’s Nancy Hixt reports.
July 15: Sanjai Prasad, 41, was killed by police in Inglewood after officers were called for a report of people prowling vehicles in a secured underground parkade. Officers blocked the parkade exits with their cars, went in on foot and “challenged” the suspects, Calgary police said. They noticed an SUV circling the parkade, tried to stop the driver who then struck a parked car. The SUV kept driving through the parkade, where a “confrontation” between the rest of the occupants and police resulted in shots fired. The SUV crashed into a parked car and came to a stop. Prasad, the driver, was killed at the scene.
Watch below: The call to police initially came in after reports of car prowlers and as Tracy Nagai reports, trouble had been reported at the building earlier that week.
March 20: Calgary police shot at Richard James Wolfchild, 23, after a Calgary resident reported seeing a man in Stanley Park with what looked like a handgun. Police were called to the southwest park to find the man walking between trees near an area where kids were playing soccer. Police cleared the area and tried to speak to the man, who refused to comply.
“The situation escalated to the point where a member of CPS discharged a firearm,” Calgary police said at the time. “A suspect was subsequently taken into custody. There were no injuries.”
January 24: Quadriplegic Dave McQueen, 53, was shot and killed by police following a tense standoff in Huntington Hills. Over the course of the incident, a suspect was firing shots into the window of a city bus and investigators said they observed shots “fired indiscriminately from a residence,” Calgary police said. Some of the bullets hit nearby houses.
As police were containing the area round the residence, a man in a wheelchair came out the back door with a handgun and engaged in a direct confrontation with officers, ASIRT said at the time.
He was subsequently shot and died at the scene.
Watch below: Details are emerging about suspect Dave McQueen after a police standoff in Huntington Hills. Tracy Nagai reports.
With files from Melissa Gilligan, Jodi Hughes and Lisa MacGregor
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