WATCH ABOVE: Sirens and gunshots are what some residents in Wetaskiwin woke up to early this morning. Lisa Wolansky explains.
*UPDATE: On April 1, RCMP said 40-year-old Mark Mabbott of Wetaskiwin had been charged with four counts of aggravated assault, four counts of assault with a weapon, one count of possessing a weapon dangerous to the public, and one count of assault. He is being held in custody until his April 28 court appearance.
EDMONTON — A man was shot by police early Tuesday morning in the central Alberta community of Wetaskiwin. RCMP said officers responded to a domestic situation at a home around 4 a.m.
“Upon arriving at a residence, officers were confronted by a 40-year-old man with a weapon,” the ASIRT news release read.
“The police officers retreated, contained the area, and requested the assistance of the RCMP Emergency Response Team (ERT). While the officers were waiting for ERT to arrive, the adult male once again advanced towards the officers continuing to carry a weapon.
“An incident occurred that resulted in the discharging of police service weapons.”
Lorne and Cathy Conklin live close by. Lorne got up shortly after 4 a.m. and noticed police lights outside his window.
“I came to my patio door and looked out and seen three or four police cruisers… the end apartment on the lower level they were concentrating on,” he recalled.
“There was a guy coming in and out two or three separate times with a bow and arrow – a compound bow – he would come out, go around the corner of the building, come back, go inside. The police were quite concerned. They had their revolvers drawn.”
Lorne said, after some time, he heard between three and five shots fired.
“I seen the guy fall on the ground. They went up to him and told him not to move.
“They asked him if there was anybody else inside. I was too far away, I couldn’t hear any response from him… They got him up … An ambulance came and they loaded him up on the stretcher. There was police presence for quite a while after that.”
STARS Air Ambulance was dispatched just before 6 a.m. to call to transport a man in his 40s from Wetaskiwin Hospital to the University of Alberta Hospital in Edmonton. STARS said the patient was suffering from a potentially life-threatening gunshot wound.
Tuesday afternoon, ASIRT updated his condition, saying he remains in hospital in stable condition.
Later in the morning, police tape and an RCMP truck could be seen outside an apartment building in Wetaskiwin. Police said the situation was under control, the scene secured, and no other civilians or officers were injured.
“It’s unreal,” said Cathy. “It’s hard to believe.”
She said the apartment complex is usually a quiet place.
“It’s really a nice place.”
The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team was called in to investigate. ASIRT reviews incidents involving serious injury or death of any person that may have resulted from the actions of a police officer.
The RCMP Major Crimes Unit is also investigating.