Charges laid against man shot by police in downtown skywalk office

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This article was published 05/05/2017 (3105 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg police have confirmed the identity and announced charges against a man shot by police on Monday afternoon in an optometrist’s office near a second floor skywalk on Graham Avenue.

Police said Joshua Pardy, 25, of Winnipeg is facing five charges of assault with a weapon and one charge of possessing a weapon for a dangerous purpose after he allegedly ran through the skywalk and into the office of Dr. Robert Lecker waving a long pole with a pair of scissors taped to the end.

Pardy was arrested after his release from hospital and is being held in custody.

Witnesses said two shots were fired at Pardy by an on-duty Winnipeg police officer when Pardy refused to drop the weapon after being told to do so several times by the officer and two police trainees.

“The guy was undone and completely irrational,” Lecker told the Winnipeg Free Press on Tuesday.

“He was waving the weapon around. They said, ‘Drop the knife.’ I told my two patients to stay where they (were) and I went back into my office. I thought this was the safest place to be,” he said. “The situation was somewhat chaotic.”

Lecker said he heard police again tell the man to drop the weapon and then, “It was ‘boom, boom.’

“You knew exactly it was a gunshot. It was two of them. One hit him.”

A single bullet hole was seen at the back of the office.

Nicelyn Romero, Lecker’s receptionist, said she saw the incident begin in the skywalk just outside the office.

Romero said the officer and two trainees were trying to get the man to drop the weapon when suddenly he backed through the door and into the main office area in front of her.

“He was cornered,” she said. “He was asked to drop his weapon, but he didn’t listen to the police. He stared at me. He was waving the weapon, but not at me.

“Police again said, ‘Drop your weapon or I’m going to shoot you.’ I was sitting but I just backed up against the cupboards.”

Pardy’s uncle Lawrence Disbrowe said his nephew, the biological son of his brother, was born in Winnipeg but was placed in the care of Child and Family Services as a young child and was adopted by a family in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Disbrowe said Pardy returned to Winnipeg last year to reconnect with his biological father, who died soon after.

Pardy had been using methamphetamine and had worn out his welcome at Disbrowe’s home because of his drug use, his uncle said. He came to Winnipeg to reconnect with his blood relatives but “fell into the wrong crowd,” he said.

-with files from Kevin Rollason and Katie May