Officer cleared in ‘suicide by cop’ shooting

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This article was published 03/08/2023 (1023 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg police officer who shot a man during a “suicide by cop” incident in Osborne Village last year did so lawfully, the law enforcement watchdog has determined.

The man, who had pointed a rifle at police officers outside a Gertrude Street apartment on July 13, 2022, survived.

The Independent Investigation Unit was called to the scene by Winnipeg police shortly after the incident.

Former IIU director Zane Tessler completed his final report on the shooting last November, but it was only released Thursday as the man had faced criminal charges connected with the incident until recently.

Investigators interviewed nine witnesses, reviewed surveillance footage and police documents during the probe.

Police told the agency that patrol officers were called to the building just after 3 p.m. for a report of a man armed with a gun.

He had called police himself to goad them into killing him, the man later told IIU investigators.

“(He) started his interview by saying, ‘I wanted to end my life and I phoned the police. I wanted them to do it,’” Tessler wrote, noting the man had been drinking and faced several personal challenges.

“(He) had decided to end his life. However, he was unwilling to do it himself and decided to get the police to do it for him.”

Police found the man sitting on the front steps, holding a .22-calibre rifle. They tried to negotiate with him for 15 minutes, the report says. They formed a semi-circle around him and told him to drop the gun.

He refused, so police used Taser electroshock weapons on him multiple times, but the shocks were ineffective.

The man raised the gun in the direction of officers with his hands and fingers moving toward the trigger. That’s when an officer shot the man, hitting him in the abdomen.

The rifle had a loaded magazine but there was not a round in the chamber, Tessler found. It was reasonable for police to assume the gun was capable of causing harm or death, he wrote.

Tessler wrote that he was satisfied that the officer’s use of force was authorized by law in the circumstances, but said he hoped the shooting would be reviewed to determine whether other non-lethal responses could be used when dealing with suicidal people.

— Staff