The Yukon’s police watchdog has found “proportionate, necessary, and reasonable” force was used when an RCMP officer shot and killed a man who reportedly had a gun and was threatening people at the Air North hangar at the Whitehorse airport nearly two years ago.
The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team, or ASIRT, is contracted to investigate police actions that result in death or serious injuries in the Yukon. It investigated the fatal shooting that occurred on Nov. 24, 2022.
According to the report on ASIRT’s findings, the officer in question acted lawfully and properly.
ASIRT executive director Michael Ewenson issued the decision on Sept. 19.
ASIRT’s investigation relied on information from civilian witnesses, witness officers, a scene examination and CCTV and in-car video. The officer in question didn’t provide an interview or statement, which is their right, as noted in the report.
The report lays out the circumstances surrounding the shooting.
At around 12:40 p.m., the man went to the Air North hangar, following an employee through the security gate. When he got out of his truck, he had a black .22 calibre "carbine-looking" rifle. He pointed it at the employee (described as civilian witness #1) and pulled the trigger, but the gun didn’t fire. The man cycled the action and tried again, this time with the rifle under his own chin, but again the rifle didn’t fire, per the report.
After trying several more times and dropping live rounds on the ground, the man re-entered his truck and drove toward the hangar, where he got back out with the gun.
He briskly walked toward another civilian witness who was driving a highway tractor. The civilian tried to drive away, but the man with the gun climbed onto the driver’s side of the tractor and began striking the civilian in the head and face as the civilian drove for about 100 metres. Eventually the man jumped off the tractor and the civilian turned around, drove back to the hangar and ran inside.
In the report, the second civilian witness said the man was shouting “I’m going to f---ing kill you” and screaming other things that could not be made out, other than the word “kill.” The civilian kept hitting the gun away when the man tried to point it towards them.
The report indicates the man followed the civilian into the hangar with the gun. Multiple Air North employees escaped out the back of the hangar.
One officer, described as witness officer #1, had walked over to the hangar and saw the man shoot at least one round into the air outside the hangar, per the report.
Shortly after that, the officer in question and five other officers showed up on scene. They formed a small arc about 100 metres south of the hangar. As the man with the gun walked across the parking lot toward them, he had the gun in his right hand, facing down, the report notes.
According to the report, the man was told to stop walking and drop the weapon several times by several officers but he didn’t comply.
He told the officers to shoot him, per the report.
When the man got within 10 metres of the subject officer’s vehicle, which had a camera, the officer in question fired two rounds and hit the man. Officers on scene provided first aid. The man was taken by ambulance to hospital, where he died from the injuries.
ASIRT investigators on the scene found the .22 calibre rifle the man was holding when he was shot as well as several live rounds from various locations within the scene; three .22 calibre magazines, including a drum magazine; and two spent 5.56 mm carbine rounds.
They also located receipts for buying the rifle, case, ammunition and magazines, dated Nov. 17, 2022, about a week before the incident.
The sequence of events from when the officers arrive to the shooting is all captured on video, per the report.
Contact Dana Hatherly at dana.hatherly@yukon-news.com
