Man killed by police had schizophrenia, found not responsible for past offences

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This article was published 16/02/2024 (569 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The 59-year-old man fatally shot by police during a mental health call Tuesday was found not criminally responsible due to mental disorder in 2002 for charges related to an illicit drug operation.

Family, who have declined comment, identified the man on social media as Bradley Singer.

Singer was found not criminally responsible in March 2002 for four counts of possessing property obtained by crime under $5,000 and one count of possessing property obtained by crime over $5,000, court records show.

Health Sciences Centre doctors diagnosed him with schizophrenia, a mental disorder characterized by bouts of psychosis and a misperception of reality.

Singer and a male relative were arrested in 1998 for running a cannabis grow operation and again in 2001 for a crack cocaine operation, the Free Press reported in 2002.

A doctor wrote in a medical report tendered in court that Singer believed “he had been given a duty to bring happiness to people” through drugs, the Free Press wrote, and that he thought he was “the messiah.”

The medical professionals concluded he was not of sound mind at the time of the offences.

The cases of people found not criminally responsible of an offence because of mental disorder fall under the jurisdiction of the Manitoba Criminal Code Review Board, which determines whether they should be confined to a mental health facility or given a conditional or absolute discharge.

Under a conditional discharge, people found NCR are supervised while living in the community under certain conditions, which can include taking medications and reporting to professionals on a regular basis. It is unclear, based on court records, whether Singer was ever granted an absolute discharge.

Singer wrote in a 2021 social media post about an upcoming review board hearing, indicating the board wanted him to either continue taking anti-psychotic medications or admit him to hospital against his will. He wrote that he had been “born into the history books” and that the hearing would affect the “roll out of the messianic age and new world order.”

Winnipeg Police Service spokesman Const. Claude Chancy said Wednesday that police received an order under the provincial Mental Health Act on Feb. 8 to apprehend the man for a non-voluntary medical exam.

Police said officers tried to find the man several times in the following days but could not. He answered the door at a home at 259 Magnus Ave. at about 7:30 a.m. Tuesday.

Chancy said the man, who was agitated and held a crowbar, discharged a fire extinguisher at the officers. They called in the tactical support team, whose officers tried unsuccessfully to communicate with the man.

Officers forced their way into the home using a battering ram on the department’s armoured vehicle and discovered the man had barricaded himself in a second-storey bedroom, Chancy said, where he again discharged a fire extinguisher towards officers.

The man eventually left the bedroom and confronted officers while armed with a “large, edged weapon,” police allege, which is when officers shot him.

Police said officers gave him first aid before paramedics took him to hospital in critical condition.

A police source told the Free Press on Friday that tactical officers successfully apprehended Singer about a month ago for another Mental Health Act order related to not taking his medications. The source added the January incident also involved busting into the “fortified” house.

Officers called in crisis negotiators to talk to Singer, the source said, and used the police armoured vehicle to breach a window to get inside and take him into custody. Singer was taken to hospital, treated and released before the second Mental Health Act form was ordered.

“We knew he had a weapon,” the police source said of the Tuesday incident, which also involved the tactical squad using a battering ram to gain access to the home.

The Independent Investigation Unit, the provincial police oversight agency, is probing the circumstances of the shooting.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca