SADDLE LAKE - While no injuries have been reported, the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) has taken over carriage of an investigation into the circumstances that lead to an officer discharging his gun on Dec. 13.
On Tuesday afternoon at about 2 p.m., RCMP officers were in Saddle Lake conducting a follow-up investigation in relation to a stolen vehicle. The stolen vehicle was alleged to have been driven by a man who had outstanding warrants and was likely in possession of firearms, according to information from RCMP.
"Officers located the vehicle, however, the suspect collided with a police vehicle. During this incident, a single carbine round was discharged by an officer. The suspect was taken into custody and a loaded shotgun was recovered from the suspect vehicle," reads the information from police.
RCMP report that no one was injured in the incident.
"The Alberta RCMP believes in processes that seek the facts and it’s important that processes taken to assess the actions of all those involved, including the police, are fair, transparent, and defendable. This is why, as soon as we became aware of this incident, we immediately notified the Director of Law Enforcement and initiated our internal review process," according to RCMP.
Independent of ASIRT’s investigation, the Alberta RCMP’s internal review process has been implemented to gather an account of what took place during the incident.
"RCMP training, policy, police response, and the duty status of the members involved will be subject to review. The Alberta RCMP is, of course, fully cooperating with ASIRT and will not be commenting further on this incident," according to RCMP.
