Alberta’s police watchdog is looking into an incident over the weekend in central Alberta, where police fired their weapons while dealing with a man who was reportedly shooting a gun in a Walmart parking lot.
Red Deer RCMP responded at around 11:30 a.m. Sunday to a complaint of a man firing a gun in the parking lot of the Walmart inside Parkland Mall on the north side of the city.
Police began investigating and patrolling the area and a few hours later, found the suspect on the east side of the city.
RCMP said at approximately 2:15 p.m., officers located the man associated with the complaint in the area of Garden Heights and Carleton Avenue.
While arresting him, police said, “an interaction occurred where officers discharged their firearms.”
As a result, the man was taken to hospital with injuries. No officers were injured, police added.
RCMP notified the Director of Law Enforcement and initiated an internal review process.
The director determined the incident was “in scope” and has asked the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) to investigate.
Independent of ASIRT’s investigation, the RCMP said its internal review process has been implemented to gather a full account of what took place during this incident.
“RCMP training, policy, police response, and the duty status of the members involved will be subject to review,” a news release Monday said.
Because ASIRT is investigating, police could not comment further.