The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) has determined that the Edmonton Police Service (EPS) could not have done anything to stop the death of Norman Raddatz, the man who shot and killed Const. Daniel Woodall in 2015.
Police went to the west Edmonton home on June 8 to arrest Raddatz for criminal harassment in relation to ongoing online messaging. Woodall and his partner Sgt. Jason Harley knocked on the door and Raddatz refused to speak with police. The officers told Raddatz they would get a warrant to enter his home and arrest him if necessary.
“Go get a warrant. I’m not opening the door,” Raddatz responded, according to ASIRT.
Police said Raddatz appeared sober and calm at the time.
Once the warrant was obtained, ASIRT said officers were attempting to avoid a forcible entry by walking Raddatz through the warrant, but he continued to refuse to let the officers in.
Four officers attempted to get into the home using a battering ram. On the third strike, ASIRT said Raddatz fired multiple gunshots through the door. Both Woodall and Harley were hit. Woodall would later die of his injuries.
ASIRT said Raddatz continued to fire shots from his home, hitting many nearby homes and vehicles and making it impossible for officers to approach the home. After some time, smoke was seen coming from his home. Raddatz continued firing a gun and ASIRT said police were unable to be sure where in the house Raddatz was, and therefore police and firefighters couldn’t approach and attempt to put the fire out.
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According to ASIRT, the only option left was to wait or firefighters would be placing themselves at “imminent risk of death or serious bodily harm.”
The fire completely consumed the home and officers and firefighters were only able to enter the residence the next day.
Inside, police said they found evidence of a homemade bomb, the remains of a dog in the kitchen and Raddatz’s remains in a bedroom. Both the dog and Raddatz had been shot.
ASIRT said no shots were fired by EPS members during the incident and multiple weapons were found in the home, including one near Raddatz’s body.
An autopsy showed that there was no soot in Raddatz’s airway, leading to the conclusion that the fire played no part in his death.
ASIRT said there is no evidence or “reasonable suspicion” that the officers did anything wrong during the operation or contributed to the death of Raddatz.
The outcome of the investigation was welcome news to Claire Woodall. She and her two sons moved back to England in late 2016, but on Tuesday she said she had been in touch with ASIRT and the EPS and had received a copy of the report before it was released to the public.
“It did take me back to the time in which he died. It was quite hard. I thought I’d be alright with it but it was really quite difficult.
“It was just as if he had died again.”
Claire said she had been given details about how her husband died in 2015 but said it was all “a bit of a blur.” She said any questions she had about what happened were answered in the report, she just wished it hadn’t taken so long.
“It’s been a very long road to get to this. Three years is a really long time,” she said.
“This investigation has shown a few things that may need changing and a few things that proved that police did the right thing. It’s just something happened and there was a fatality.”
Claire added her boys are doing well and remind her daily of Daniel so it’s like she “never lost” him.
“We’re doing good,” she said. “We can close the book now.”
The three plan to come to Edmonton, which Claire calls their second home, this summer and plan to visit the Edmonton school that bears her husband’s name.
“We’re with the people we need to be with right now but knowing we have the support of Edmonton…it’s just a lovely, lovely feeling.”
ASIRT investigates any incident where someone dies in police custody. Even though Raddatz was never physically taken into custody, ASIRT said he was considered “in custody” as police had surrounded his residence with the intent to arrest him.
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