(CBC News) – Four RCMP officers who fired at an armed man in Sherwood Park, Alta., last January acted in self-defence and won’t face criminal charges for his death, investigators announced Thursday.
RCMP shot the 56-year-old man on Jan. 16 after a seven-hour standoff in the rural community east of Edmonton.
The man had called police and indicated he was armed and could hurt himself, the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team said.
The four officers tried to negotiate with the man throughout the standoff in an effort to bring about a peaceful ending, said ASIRT, which investigates all Alberta shootings involving police.
But when the man finally came out of the house in late afternoon, he refused to put down his loaded 12-gauge shotgun. Instead, he challenged police, raised his gun and was shot.
The investigators concluded the four officers were justified in using lethal force and acted in self-defence.
“This finding in no way diminishes this tragedy,” Clif Purvis,the executive director of ASIRT, said in a news release. “On behalf of ASIRT, I offer sympathy and condolences to the friends and family of the deceased.”
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