Police cleared in fatal shooting of man near Unicity mall

Manitoba’s police watchdog has cleared two officers in the fatal shooting of a man after he stabbed one of them in the throat while they were responding to a shoplifting incident at a major retailer at a mall in west Winnipeg.

A report from the Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba, which was released Tuesday, revealed the man had methamphetamine in his system when he was killed. His backpack, found at the scene, contained a sealed package of fish filleting knives and two hatchets sold at the nearby Walmart, where his exit through a fire door had triggered an alarm.

Video of the shooting circulated widely on social media after the incident, which happened at the bus loop at Unicity shopping centre shortly after 5 p.m. on Nov. 24, 2024.

The IIU report revealed police stopped the man because a Walmart employee flagged him while they were in the area as part of the retail-theft initiative.

The IIU said the officers, who both fired multiple shots at the man, were not to blame in the incident. The report did not name the man, who was wielding the utility knife and a hatchet when he was shot, but the Free Press previously identified him as Jordan Daniel Charlie, 24, of Nunavut.

“In reviewing the evidence available, the civilian director is of the opinion that the subject officers were reasonable in their actions. The subject officers did not commit a criminal offence in this tragic incident. Therefore, no charges are recommended, and the IIU investigation is now completed and closed,” the report concludes.

An autopsy found the methamphetamine in a blood sample taken from Charlie’s chest after he died was 0.212 milligrams per litre, while a sample from elsewhere in his body had a level of 0.409 mg/l. The IIU report referenced data showing methamphetamine overdose concentrations in samples taken after death averaged 1 mg/l — between 0.09 mg/l and 18 mg/l.

A loss-prevention officer at the Walmart said she followed Charlie, who was wearing black clothing and had his hood up, around the store as he carried a full backpack. She phoned police after his exit set off the alarm.

The two officers declined to be interviewed by the IIU but gave the police watchdog their notes and prepared statements.

One officer said that after police pulled up to Charlie in the bus loop area in an unmarked vehicle, he told him to stop, but Charlie ignored him and walked faster. When the officer grabbed Charlie by the shoulder and told him he was under arrest, he turned around “with a crazed look in his eyes,” the officer told the IIU.

Charlie punched the officer in the neck, he said, and he fell to the curb. The officer said he got up, saw the man was holding a knife and confirmed he had been stabbed when he touched his neck and saw blood on his glove.

Charlie then pulled out a hatchet, holding a weapon in each hand, the officers said. Both officers told him to drop the weapons before he walked towards the one who had been stabbed, and both officers opened fire.

A video recorded by someone who was in the area and posted on social media shows the officers with their guns drawn. They yelled at the male to, “Put the axe down and the knife” and, “Put it down, man,” before the man took a step towards the officers.

The officer was apparently slashed with the utility knife and suffered a “vertical laceration to his neck, missing the major arteries,” the report noted. The IIU released a photo of the wound, which was glued shut.

A utility knife and a hatchet were found at the scene. Police released a photo of the backpack and two items it contained — the package of fish filleting knives and two sealed hatchets. Both items are sold at Walmart, the report noted, and the hatchet Charlie wielded was the same kind.

The IIU did not release images of the two weapons Charlie was holding.

He had been released from jail days before the incident after serving a sentence for assault with a weapon. A hospital security officer had his hand sliced.

Charlie was arrested multiple times after being released from Stony Mountain Institution in 2023. He had served a federal sentence of about four years.

A Parole Board of Canada report from February 2023 said Charlie had a history of mental-health and cognitive issues, including borderline personality disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, an intellectual disability and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. The board concluded Charlie’s potential for reintegration back into society was low.

“Given your violence history, your impulsivity, your vulnerability and the constant display of a lack of restraint/desire in managing your mental health… the board has little confidence that your behaviour in the community will be any different but unmanageable,” the report stated.

fpcity@freepress.mb.ca

IIU report