EDMONTON – An agency that investigates police has ruled an Edmonton officer used necessary force in killing a suicidal man who had shot and wounded another officer.
The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team says police pulled over a suspected drunk driver in May 2015.
It says the 31-year-old man was belligerent and refused to get out of his vehicle, then tried to pull an officer through the window.
A second officer attempted to shoot the driver with a Taser, but backed away when the man grab a sawed-off shotgun.
READ MORE: ASIRT investigating officer-involved shooting in Edmonton
The man got out of his vehicle, shot the first officer in the leg and ran off.
“That was a tough phone call,” Maurice Brodeur, president of the Edmonton Police Association, said on Tuesday. “Right away I learned he was shot in the leg, that it wasn’t life-threatening… but then, afterwards, what about the mental wel being, the recovery after that? That takes a long time.”
As the man turned and pointed his gun again at police, the second officer fired multiple shots, striking him once in the head.
Brodeur said he was also concerned for the officer who shot and killed the suspect.
“He took a life,” he said. “It’s not natural to take a life.”
-With files from Shallima Maharaj & Phil Heidenreich.
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