Man dead after police officers fire guns

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This article was published 12/01/2019 (2771 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A man is dead following a confrontation with Winnipeg police officers in the West End on Friday night.

“More than one” police officer fired their weapon at the man after he produced an unspecified weapon, Winnipeg Police Service spokesman Const. Jay Murray told reporters during a Saturday morning news conference.

The fatal encounter began at about 7:50 p.m., when officers “encountered a male acting suspiciously in the area of Sargent Avenue and Maryland Street,” Murray said.

The officers were already in the area, he said, and were not called to the scene.

The man fled after the officers approached him, said Murray, but officers later found the man “in a nearby vacant lot.”

That’s where police fired their weapons, he said.

Officers provided medical assistance to the victim, including CPR, according to Murray. The man died after being taken to hospital.

“This is a tragedy for everyone involved, not only the officers that were forced to use lethal force, but you have a man that lost his life yesterday too,” Const. Murray said.

Murray saidpolice have no information to suggest methamphetamine was involved in Friday’s incident.

The investigation into the shooting is being handled by the Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba (IIU), the province’s civilian law enforcement watchdog agency.

Family members identified the deceased as 26-year-old Chad Williams.

Anyone who may have witnessed the shooting or has relevant information about the incident is being asked to call the IIU at 1-844-667-6060.

The police-involved shooting in Winnipeg comes close on the heels of another that took place following a high-speed chase through the city Wednesday night.

In that incident, multiple officers fired at a vehicle that rammed a police roadblock. When three suspects were taken into custody later, a 23-year-old suspect was found with a gunshot wound. The man was released from hospital after treatment, and was in police custody on Thursday.

The Independent Investigation Unit is also investigating that shooting.

solomon.israel@freepress.mb.ca

@sol_israel