RCMP officers cleared in shooting death of Yukon man who had paintball gun
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WHITEHORSE – Investigators have cleared RCMP officers who shot and killed a man in the Yukon after he pointed a paintball gun at them, saying there are no reasonable grounds to believe that the officers who fired almost 30 rounds committed an offence.
A report from the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team, which investigates Yukon police shootings, says that on Jan. 27, RCMP officers located the unnamed man in his vehicle on the Alaska Highway and tried to arrest him on outstanding charges including multiple counts of assault with a weapon.
A chase involving multiple police vehicles resulted in the suspect being deliberately run off the road and into a snowy ditch, where he initially refused to leave his vehicle.
The report says officers threw a gas canister into the vehicle and fired less-lethal rounds through the windows, before the man got out and began moving through deep snow toward the tree line.
It says he was hit with another rubber projectile and fell, before a gun was spotted in his hand, three officers shot him, and he died at the scene.
The report says the officers likely fired a total of 29 rounds and that the man’s weapon turned out to be a paintball gun that closely resembled a real pistol.
It says the man pointed what appeared to be a gun at the officers and they were entitled to defend themselves, which they did in a reasonable way, calling their use of force proportionate, necessary, and reasonable.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 20, 2026