A man and woman are both in hospital after two different shootings north of Edmonton Thursday night — one of which involved Alberta RCMP and is now under an ASIRT investigation.
Police were first called at around 7:46 p.m., when Athabasca RCMP members responded to a report of a woman who was injured when a man allegedly fired a gun in the Calling Lake area, which is about 60 kilometres north of Athabasca.
Police said the woman had been taken to hospital and was in stable condition.
At approximately 8:30 p.m., RCMP found the suspect, who was also believed to be from the Calling Lake area.
Mounties said a containment was set up around the property where the suspect was found and officers interacted with the man, while the RCMP Police Dog Service and the RCMP Emergency Response Team were called in to help.
RCMP said the suspect exited the home several times during the containment, aware of the police presence.
The standoff carried on for several hours until just before 11 p.m., when RCMP said the man came out of the home again and a confrontation occurred, “which resulted in two RCMP officers discharging their service weapons.”
“The suspect sustained serious, life-threatening injuries as a result of this incident,” police said in a news release Friday.
Despite being shot, police said the man managed to go back inside his home, and he was subsequently followed and located by RCMP members.
RCMP said officers at the scene provided medical assistance and the suspect was taken to hospital, where he remains. No officers were injured during the situation, police said.
After the shooting took place, RCMP said the province’s director of law enforcement was notified immediately.
The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) has been directed to investigate the circumstances surrounding the actions of the police during the investigation.
Independent of ASIRT’s investigation, RCMP said its internal review process has been implemented to gather a full account of what took place during the standoff.
“RCMP training, policy, police response, and the duty status of the members involved will be subject to review. The RCMP is, of course, fully co-operating with ASIRT and will not be commenting further on this incident,” the news release said.
ASIRT is called upon to investigate serious injury or death that may have been caused by officers and serious or sensitive allegations of police misconduct.
The situation took place about 200 kilometres directly north of Edmonton.
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