Investigators looking for witnesses to police shooting

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This article was published 09/11/2015 (3643 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The province’s team of independent investigators is looking for witnesses as it probes a police shooting that killed a Winnipeg man Friday.

Mark DiCesare, 24, died after being shot by officers near Kapyong Barracks following a police chase through River Heights around 1:15 p.m. Friday. DiCesare had been upset over a recent breakup with his girlfriend, a source told the Free Press.

Whether DiCesare was armed as he led police on a chase Friday is part of the Independent Investigation Unit’s (IIU) investigation, said executive director Zane Tessler.

This investigation means around-the-clock work for the nine-member team, tasked with looking into serious incidents involving on- or off-duty police officers. The unit is hoping anyone who may have seen DiCesare’s white Audi leading police on a chase from Charleswood, through Tuxedo and into River Heights Friday afternoon will come forward and share any information they may have.

“When you consider the distance that was traversed by the affected person and the police from the beginning to the end,” he said, “Many people may have had something to see along that way over a number of kilometres, so any way we can track these people down would be of assistance to our investigators. This is just a normal process in any investigation, and particularly one of this size.”

Five Winnipeg Police Service officers who were involved in the shooting are off work awaiting a psychologist’s clearance to return to duty, while 25 officers were on scene at the field on Grant Avenue and Kenaston Boulevard when the shooting happened.

The IIU is in the process of arranging interviews with the officers involved and investigators have also been in touch with DiCesare’s family.

On her Instagram account Sunday, DiCesare’s ex-girlfriend posted a photo of the couple and wrote that she prayed he would watch over her.

“My best friend, my soul mate. My heart, my life. You are and will always will be my everything. You are the most amazing person I have ever met. I have never been happier than I was with you, and I know you will always be with me,” she wrote.

Winnipeg Police Association vice-president George Van Mackelbergh said the union has spoken to the officers who were directly involved in the shooting and they are now going through the police force’s critical-incident protocol, which involves speaking to a psychologist and lawyers and preparing statements for the investigators.

“My heart goes out to the family of this young man. The facts will come out, but still there’s a family in mourning, there’s a community in mourning, and it’s a tragic, tragic incident that occurred. It’s not like TV – there’s nobody high-fiving. There’s none of that. It’s a terrible thing and our heart goes out to the family and friends of that young man. But at the end of the day, there will have been something, or a decision made by him, that would have put him in that situation,” Van Mackelbergh said.

Meanwhile, the officers have access to counselling and wellness services to help them cope, he said.

“Our officers are always prepared, but it’s not like the movies. You can be prepared to do your job, you can be well-trained, but until you find yourself in that situation – something that has the consequences of this – the question is how you’re going to deal with it afterwards, and of course that is a concern.”

There is no timeline for the completion of the investigation – the largest the IIU has undertaken since it was formed in June, Tessler said.

The unit is currently investigating several other cases, including the recent police shooting of 44-year-old Haki Sefa on Sept. 20, the case of a stolen RCMP gun being used in a gang-related shooting that injured a teenage girl on Oct. 24, and the apparent suicide of a murder suspect who shot himself after police tried to pull him over on Nov. 2.

“Our resources are also being stretched,” Tessler said. “We have contingency plans in place in the event that we start to run short, but certainly the work that we’ve accepted in the last few weeks has been significant.”

Witnesses can contact the IIU toll-free at 1-844-667-6060.

Katie.may@freepress.mb.ca

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