Article content
The provincial agency in charge of investigating serious incidents involving law enforcement has offered up more details in the case of a fatal shooting by RCMP responding to a call on a Saskatchewan First Nation.
A spokesperson for the provincial Ministry of Justice confirmed Tuesday in a media release that Saskatchewan’s Serious Incident Response Team (SIRT) is investigating an incident that occurred Sept. 8 on the Ahtahkakoop Cree Nation.
Article content
Police were called to the First Nation around 6:45 a.m. with a report that a 27-year-old woman had been assaulted with a machete. Officers found the alleged victim on arrival and she was taken to hospital by paramedics.
Two RCMP officers then went shorty after 7:15 a.m. to a home where the alleged machete assault was reported to have occurred, in search of a 31-year-old man suspected of the attack.
A confrontation is alleged to have occured between the suspect and the officers, causing police to move back, get behind cover and try to contain the area while they waiting for backup.
The suspect reportedly came in and out of the house several times to engage in verbal exchanges with the officers while they waited for more police to arrive.
Additional officers arrived at the scene shortly before 8:45 a.m. , at which point there was another confrontation with the suspect.
In the course of this confrontation, a member of the RCMP’s emergency response team reportedly fired a single shot, hitting the suspect.
Paramedics later pronounced the man dead at the scene.
SIRT was informed of the incident by shortly before 9 a.m. and dispatched personnel to the scene to begin the investigation into police conduct during the incident, including the circumstances surrounding the fatal shooting of the suspect.
Article content
A final report on the incident is due within 90 days of the conclusion of the SIRT investigation.
SIRT is a civilian-led agency established by the province in 2023, with a mandate is to independently investigate incidents where actions by on and off-duty police officers result in death or serious injury, as well as allegations of sexual assault or interpersonal violence involving police.
Ahtahkakoop Cree Nation is located about 150 kilometres north of Saskatoon.
Recommended from Editorial
The Saskatoon Star Phoenix has created an Afternoon Headlines newsletter that can be delivered daily to your inbox so you are up to date with the most vital news of the day. Click here to subscribe.
With some online platforms blocking access to the journalism upon which you depend, our website is your destination for up-to-the-minute news, so make sure to bookmark thestarphoenix.com and sign up for our newsletters so we can keep you informed. Click here to subscribe.
Share this article in your social network
