Alberta’s police watchdog says the officer who fatally shot a Calgary man while responding to a domestic call last month won’t be punished because he fired in self-defence.
City police were called in about a domestic dispute involving an older woman and her son, who was waving around a large dagger and talked about wanting to be killed by police.
The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team, or ASIRT, says the man was told by one of the five responding officers to drop the knife, but refused and instead lunged at him.
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He was shot by the officer four times and died at the scene despite receiving medical help.
Watchdog executive director Michael Ewenson says the officer was entitled to defend himself just like a civilian if faced with a life-threatening situation.
Ewenson says the man’s mother told investigators that her son talked about dying at the hands of police and she believes her son was waiting for it to happen.
“Remarkably, the mother asked ASIRT to pass a message to the officers involved. She stated, ‘I forgive him. He had to do his own job and there’s nothing else he could’ve done,'” Ewenson said in the report, released Thursday.
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