WATCH: Global News has video of a walk-through of a neighbour’s home that was riddled with bullets during the Edmonton police shooting.
EDMONTON — Ryan Colton was sitting on the deck in his backyard in the Ormsby Place area Monday night when he saw the first few undercover police officers arrive at his neighbour’s home.
He said they knocked on the door and when the homeowner didn’t answer, police called for backup. Colton recalled police once again requested access but were refused.
“Once they hit the door three times and broke it open, he opened fired upon the officers, hitting Officer Woodall…. the other sergeant got hit in the back as they were fleeing from the scene.”
Const. Daniel Woodall, 35, was one of several police officers who had arrived at the home to execute an arrest warrant for 42-year-old Norman Raddatz at approximately 8 p.m. Raddatz, who’s believed to have fired dozens of shots at the approaching police officers, was known to police, though he did not have an extensive police record.
READ MORE: Edmonton police Const. Daniel Woodall, 35, killed in west-end shooting
Const. Woodall, of the hate crimes unit, was killed. Thirty-eight-year-old Sgt. Jason Harley, a southwest division patrol member, was shot in the lower back.
“Shortly after shots were fired, a lot of officers started to flood in on the scene to help with the situation,” said Colton. “They evacuated the area, got all the homeowners out of the area; they secured the perimeter.”
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“I helped the one officer that got hit in the back.
“He came to the corner of my lot and we carried him off – with another neighbour – we carried him out to the farthest perimeter of the area and waited for a bus to show up to rush him off to the hospital.”
Colton said the officer’s wound was visible on the lower side of his back.
“But his vest did save him. It stopped the bullet from penetrating.
READ MORE: What you need to know about body armour, which saved life of one Edmonton police officer
“He was still walking. He was still trying to come back and do his job. The other officers told him, ‘You’re injured. You have to lay down.’
“He wanted to do his job that he was trained to do. He didn’t want to leave his guys behind.”
It was at that point, Colton said, they realized there was an officer down: Woodall.
Woodall had spoken to Colton about his neighbour before the shots were fired, trying to get any relevant information about the man that could help police.
“He was just doing his job… just started the night shift… I feel really bad for his family.”
READ MORE: Who was fallen Edmonton police officer Const. Daniel Woodall?
Colton said all the neighbours are very shaken up.
“He was using a very high-powered rifle. It was pretty serious. You can see at the neighbour’s door across the street there’s 48 bullet holes through the door and they penetrated through the house.”
That neighbour, 91-year-old Paul Noble, was resting on the couch when a spray of bullets came through his home, several leaving holes just a foot from where he was lying.
“Had I been standing up, I would have got hit by those bullets right there,” said Noble.
The World War II veteran’s home is evidence of the violent shoot-out. Bullets went through the garage door, passed through the back wall, into an office and through two more walls, shattering picture frames and hockey memorabilia.
“I thought, ‘What the hell was that noise?’ … It was bullets coming in from the front of the house.”
“I was lying there and I heard this noise. I didn’t know what it was. It went on for about 15 seconds I’d say. I guess it was the bullets coming through… I stood up and went into the other room and there was smoke and the fire alarm was going off.”
It’s not clear exactly how many bullets were fired, but Edmonton Police Chief Rod Knecht said 53 bullet holes were found in the home across the street.
The suspect’s house was set ablaze and burned to the ground. Knecht said the last time police saw the suspect was inside the burning home. While no one has been arrested, he said he believes the risk to the public is over.
“A body was found late last evening in the basement of a burned out home,” the chief said Tuesday morning. “An autopsy is scheduled for today to determine the identity of the remains and the exact cause of death.”
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