The sister of Brian Kyle Schriver says she is “heartbroken” and “shocked” after her brother was fatally shot by two RCMP officers on Tuesday in the Crowsnest Pass.
She says the family wants to know how and why the situation escalated so quickly.
Schriver spoke with Global News Lethbridge from her hometown of Woodstock, N.B., on Sunday.
“I just don’t understand why it happened. I guess (it) just really, really bugs me.”
According to RCMP, at around 5 p.m., Feb. 11, officers tried to stop a vehicle in the parking lot of the Blairmore Home Hardware store.
A media release says following a confrontation, the officers shot at the truck, which travelled a short distance before entering a ditch.
The driver was found to be suffering from gunshot wounds.
The officers then performed CPR until EMS arrived, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.
RCMP say the truck was believed to be associated with an ongoing investigation.
The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) is now investigating the shooting.
Schriver says her 30-year-old brother, who was known as Kyle, had been working in Blairmore as a welder for the past month. She adds that he was a jack of all trades.
She says he wasn’t perfect, but he was kind.
“Honestly, I just kind of broke down. … I threw my phone across the room. I just didn’t even want to hear it,” Schriver said.
“I don’t know, I just feel like I’ve been numb ever since really, emotionally … wrecked.”
Schriver said her brother was definitely very outspoken, “a wild child”, but she said he was very “kind-hearted.”
She said she’s been trying to contact the RCMP for information on numerous occasions, but hasn’t gotten any answers from them.
Her brother had some legal troubles, but Schriver states that he didn’t deserve to die because of them.
She says she feels the RCMP officers could have handled the confrontation differently, in a much less violent way, which wouldn’t have resulted in his sudden death.
“Residents are saying that they have tons of spike strips up there, that they could have spiked him in any which way that he would have left that home hardware store,” she said.
Schriver confirms the man who was in the pickup truck is her brother. The RCMP and ASIRT have not released the identity of the deceased yet.
In a press release that was sent out earlier this week, ASIRT is asking anyone who witnessed the shooting to come forward.
The press release reads in part, “as ASIRT’s investigation is underway, no further information will be released at this time.”
The RCMP continues to investigate the events that led up to the confrontation with police.