Officer’s decision to shoot man high on meth ‘reasonable’

Manitoba’s police oversight agency has concluded it was reasonable for a Winnipeg officer to shoot a blood-covered man who was high on meth and coming at him with a wire barbecue brush or screwdriver in St. James last year.

In a report made public Thursday, the acting director of the Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba cleared the officer of wrongdoing in the May 30, 2025, fatal shooting of Dillon Warren Breed, 32, in a lane behind 200 Ferry Road.

“In reviewing all the evidence available in the circumstances, I am of the opinion that the subject officer’s actions were reasonable,” wrote Bruce Sychuk.

“This incident would not meet the criminal charging standard.”

Patrol officers were dispatched after 6 p.m. when a 911 caller reported that a man covered in blood appeared to be trying to break into a house.

Minutes later, officers found a man who fit that description and was armed with a screwdriver, Sychuk said.

The officer who witnessed the shooting told the IIU that he and his partner found the shirtless man inside a shed.

He and his partner went into the yard and Breed exited the shed, holding both a screwdriver and a wooden brush with metal bristles, the witness officer told investigators.

Breed, who was “extremely agitated” and yelling incoherently, advanced while holding the screwdriver in a “stabbing posture, the witness officer said. He appeared intoxicated and an autopsy later confirmed he had methamphetamine and other drugs in his system.

The two officers demanded he drop the weapons, but Breed continued to approach them. The witness officer fired his electro-shock Taser at Breed twice, but it had no effect.

Breed threw the screwdriver at a nearby fence, investigators were told.

The partners’s version of events differed on whether Breed was holding the screwdriver or the brush at the time of the shooting. It appears the watchdog was unable to confirm which item was in his hand.

A use-of-force expert retained by the agency to review the shooting said it did not matter which item he was holding, as either could have harmed the officers, Sychuk wrote.

“He continued to advance closer to the officers while yelling and acting aggressively,” Sychuk wrote, citing the witness officer’s comments.

The witness officer said he took out his firearm when Breed was about four to six feet from the officers and was still moving toward them while holding the wire brush.

As Breed continued to advance, the other officer shot him three times. Breed dropped to his knees and let go of the brush, the witness officer said. The witness estimated Breed was roughly two to four feet from the officers at the time.

The two officers began first aid before paramedics and other officers arrived. The officer who shot Breed declined to be interviewed by investigators, but gave them his notes and reports on the shooting.

Those notes and reports said Breed retrieved the screwdriver and advanced on them while holding it, leading the officer to shoot him three times, at which time Breed collapsed and dropped the screwdriver.

The IIU interviewed several people who had interacted with Breed before the shooting or who had heard the shooting, but none who witnessed it.

The agency reviewed surveillance showing Breed, unsteady on his feet and seemingly impaired, breaking windows and throwing items around before the encounter with police.

The video showed Breed trying to release propane gas from a propane tank and hitting it with a tool or a brush, then grabbing a glass shard from a broken window and cutting himself on the neck and wrists. Video also showed him move from the yard toward where the officers were with an object in his hand.

Breed’s mother had told the Free Press her son had no criminal record.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca