Woman shot by RCMP officer on Trans-Canada Highway west of Carberry

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This article was published 13/05/2025 (192 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba’s police watchdog is investigating after a Mountie shot a woman accused of carrying a weapon, wandering through traffic and climbing onto vehicles on the Trans-Canada Highway Monday night.

A 54-year-old woman from the Municipality of North Cypress-Langford was injured in the incident, which occurred shortly after 9:21 p.m., the Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba said in a news release Tuesday.

In a separate release, RCMP said officers responded to an area near Road 88 West, about nine kilometres west of Carberry, to reports of “an unknown person causing a disturbance.”

Multiple witnesses told police a person was walking onto and out of the highway, which forced traffic to slow down, RCMP said.

“The first officer to arrive on scene, witnessed a female, acting erratically and climbing up onto vehicles on the highway, while in possession of an edged weapon,” RCMP said.

“The officer made numerous attempts to de-escalate the situation, however, the female ignored the officer and continued to behave erratically while brandishing the edged weapon.”

The officer repeatedly told the woman to drop the weapon, but she turned and moved towards him as he approached, RCMP said.

The officer then shot the woman.

Police gave her medical aid until emergency crews arrived and took her to the hospital in stable condition, RCMP said.

The IIU said the woman was first taken to the Brandon Regional Health Centre and later transferred to Health Sciences Centre.

A spokesperson for STARS Air Ambulance confirmed a helicopter was dispatched to the Brandon hospital around 1:45 a.m. to fly a female patient, in her mid-50s, to Winnipeg. They could not confirm whether the transfer was connected to the police incident, nor confirm the patient’s status at the time of the flight.

Video from the officer’s body camera will be turned over to the IIU, but will not be made available to the public, RCMP spokesperson Michelle Lissel told the Free Press.

Manitoba RCMP began equipping some front-line officers with body cameras last November. At the time, Manitoba RCMP assistant commissioner Scott McMurchy said police will have some discretion about whether to release recordings publicly, provided that disclosure complies with privacy legislation.

The RCMP said nobody was available to answer further questions on Tuesday.

The shooting closed a stretch of the Trans-Canada for several hours.

Manitoba Highways first announced the closure around 11 p.m., saying the westbound lanes from Road 87 West to Highway 351 were closed due to a police incident. That remained in effect until 1:45 p.m. on Tuesday, the province said in an update.

The Brandon Sun visited the scene around 8 a.m. and saw the westbound lanes were closed for about one kilometre and RCMP officers were directing traffic to a gravel road that runs parallel to the eastbound lanes.

There was an investigation vehicle onsite and yellow markers had been placed at the scene. Small pieces of debris were scattered on the westbound lanes and beside the highway.

It is unclear what caused the debris.

Lissel confirmed there was no collision related to the police shooting.

Police are still investigating how the woman ended up on the highway, she said.

Jason Cameron said he was making the roughly 35-kilometre journey from Carberry to Brandon around 4:30 a.m. when he came across the detour.

Cameron said it was “dark, dusty and difficult to see” what was happening on the highway, but noted police had used caution tape to cordon off a large swath of the westbound lanes.

He did not learn about the shooting until later in the day, after RCMP issued a news release.

“It’s just very strange,” Cameron said about the incident, noting many people in Carberry are curious about what happened.

Carberry Mayor Ray Muirhead said he started receiving calls from locals asking about the highway closure first thing in the morning.

Like Cameron, he did not learn what happened until later in the day. Muirhead said he had no additional information.

The IIU asked any witnesses or people with additional video footage or information to contact investigators at 1-844-667-6060.

—With files from the Brandon Sun

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca