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 A police officer looks for evidence at the corner of 102 Street and 107 Avenue where a police officer fatally shot a robbery suspect early yesterday. (Amber Bracken, Jason Franson Sun Media) |
EDMONTON -- A 36-year-old man is dead after being shot twice by a rookie Edmonton police officer in a "shocking" scene described as being straight out of a Hollywood movie.
Though a witness said the victim, identified as Shawn Michael Price, was unarmed when he got into a scuffle with officers, the head of the police union says the man may have been reaching for one of the cops' guns.
The incident started when a pair of downtown patrol cops were flagged down by a woman shortly before 2 a.m. yesterday. She told them she had been robbed by the man.
The officers caught up with the man and his female companion at the corner of 102 Street and 107 Avenue and tried to arrest him.
"During the course of the attempted arrest an altercation broke out," said Clifton Purvis, executive director of the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team, which is handling the investigation. "In the altercation, one uniformed police member discharged her service pistol two times."
HIT IN CHEST, HIP
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Purvis said the bullets hit the man in the chest and the hip. He was taken to hospital by ambulance where he was pronounced dead at 2:15 a.m.
The female police officer has been with the EPS for about a year, while the male cop has been an EPS member for about a decade, Purvis said.
Cops have not released the man's name, but Purvis said he was known to police. Friends identified the dead man as Price. He was on the EPS "most wanted" list. There was a Canada-wide warrant for his arrest.
"I love you, brother. I will miss you beyond (what) words can say," read a message on Price's Facebook page.
One of his friends told Sun Media that Price had had some troubles in the past, but was turning his life around for his two-year-old daughter and her mother.
"He was a good guy," said Jocelyn, who only wanted to be identified by her first name.
Purvis would not say whether a weapon was used in the alleged robbery yesterday, just before Price was shot, or whether the man had a weapon with him when he was shot.
But Rita Desjarlais, who had front-row seats to the tragic shooting from her living room, said she did not see any weapons.
"To me, (the police) did wrong. They had no reason to do that and something should be done about this because the guy was unarmed and there was no need for him to be shot like that," she said.
WOMAN SCREAMING
Desjarlais said she was initially startled by a woman screaming. When she rushed to her living room window, she saw the male cop and the man face to face, with the cop holding him by the waist. The female officer, who had been pointing her gun at the man, squeezed the trigger, she said.
"(After the first shot) he put his hands in the air when she said 'Put your hands in the air' ... that's when she shot him again.
"It was like a movie ... it's still shocking to me, I didn't even sleep yet."
Meanwhile, Sgt. Tony Simioni, president of the Edmonton Police Association, defended the officer's decision to shoot the man.
Simioni said during the struggle with officers, the man "was going for the (male) police officer's gun," though it is not clear whether he ever reached it.
He said the officers are "shook up," but physically well. However, other concerns - such as the victim's blood getting on at least one officer - remain.
"There is some blood exposure, so that's going to be a problem," Simioni said.
"We're going to have to be concerned about that for a while, so that's what the issue is at this time, as well as her psychological state."
The incident continues to be investigated by ASIRT, which is asking any witnesses to call police.
TAMAS.VIRAG@SUNMEDIA.CA