UPDATE: On Saturday, Oct. 14, 2017, the RCMP provided details on incidents leading up to officers firing their gun on two occasions in central Alberta on Friday.
There was a heavy RCMP presence near Sylvan Lake Friday evening.
Global News witnessed about 10 RCMP vehicles in a rural area west of Red Deer and several roads were blocked.
The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) said in a tweet Friday evening it was investigating a shooting involving a Sylvan Lake-area RCMP officer “earlier today.”
No further information was available, ASIRT said.
Lacombe County officials said they were asked to shut down Aspelund Road from Highway 20 to Range Road 10. Highway 20 north from Aspelund Road to Rainy Creek Road was also shut down. The county said the roads had been blocked off since about 5 p.m.
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STARS Air Ambulance was also called out.
It isn’t clear how or if these incidents are linked but they all happened in the same area at around the same time.
Global News reached out to ASIRT and RCMP for information but none was provided.
Watch below: There’s a heavy RCMP presence near Sylvan Lake tonight. ASIRT is investigating a shooting. A man shares his frightening video of a driver blowing through a roadblock in the area. Sarah Kraus reports.
Tomasz Gorny was driving from work in Rimbey home to Blackfalds at around 4:20 p.m. He was on Aspelund Road when he saw RCMP lights behind him.
“At first I thought the cops were just chasing a speeder but then I noticed two cruisers and they blew by me very fast,” he said.
He estimates the truck was travelling about 140 km/h or 150 km/h.
Gorny said he pulled over and saw a roadblock ahead of him. He said RCMP had two spike belts on the road but a truck drove through the blockade.
“It was kind of a scary situation… I don’t know if it was the smartest thing on my side to go so close to them.”
“There was one cruiser which was parked in the way and the cop was throwing the spike chain. The truck turned to the left and hit the ditch on the left side of the highway but another cop car threw another spike chain towards the ditch so the guy came back on the highway, went all the way to the right ditch, nearly hit the cruiser, and then he slowed down, made it all the way through and came back for some reason.”
“They went in front of my hood. I saw two guys still in the truck wearing hoods and goggles,” he said. “Not the usual situation, that’s for sure.”
Watch below: Tomasz Gorny was driving home from work Friday afternoon when he witnessed someone drive through an RCMP roadblock near Sylvan Lake. WARNING: Strong language.
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