Man fatally shot by RCMP in Portage la Prairie

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This article was published 24/05/2023 (1213 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE — More than 12 hours after an RCMP officer shot and killed an 18-year-old man inside a Portage apartment, investigators and neighbours were still piecing together what happened.

“It was kind of scary to find out something so extreme happened,” Steven Byers said Wednesday afternoon, standing outside his first-floor suite at 534 Hazel Bay. “I didn’t hear anything… I just saw the (police) tape.”

Byers was asleep inside his apartment when Mounties responded to reports of a domestic disturbance inside a neighbouring suite.

Officers were sent to the building shortly after 1 a.m., and were confronted by an armed, male suspect who lived inside, police said.

They attempted to detain the suspect but were unsuccessful, Manitoba RCMP said in a news release Wednesday morning. “The officers deployed their conducted energy weapons, and an officer discharged their firearm.”

Despite resuscitation efforts, the man was pronounced dead at the scene.

One officer suffered minor injuries; a female victim was safely located in another apartment, RCMP said.

A team from the Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba was immediately sent to the scene.

The IIU said RCMP reported the incident began after the female began banging on a door while saying her boyfriend was trying to kill her.

After arrival, two officers deployed their Tasers, but neither the RCMP nor the IIU stated why they were ineffective. Both organizations declined to clarify.

“This is an IIU investigation and we are not able to say anything further about the events of this morning while they conduct their investigation,” RCMP spokesperson Tara Seel said.

The IIU offered a similar response.

By 4 p.m., the investigation was still ongoing, with at least one IIU member working inside a second-storey apartment at the rear of the building.

Two RCMP officers also remained to secure the scene, at one point lifting police tape to allow neighbouring tenants access to their apartments.

Byers said he has lived in the building for around three years. Each suite has its own exterior entrance, so he seldom interacts with the neighbours and did not know the man who was killed.

He learned about the incident when investigators came to speak with his sister, who lives in the apartment and was also home at the time of the shooting.

Several other residents said investigators had knocked on their doors, too, but they were unaware of who lived in the incident suite, what led to the domestic disturbance or what transpired afterward.

The building is home to a diverse mix of new immigrants, families and young people. Some live quietly within their suites, while others are prone to late-night parties, residents said.

Police have visited the building on at least one other location in recent months, residents said.

The property manager declined to comment.

The Manitoba police watchdog is asking witnesses or anyone who might have video of the incident to call the IIU toll-free at 1-844-667-6060.

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca