Monday’s active shooter incident in Calgary’s Edworthy Park was described by police and passersby as “like something out of a movie.”
But the reality that an officer was struck twice by bullets wasn’t lost.
Nor the reality that this situation could have devolved so much further.
Mayor Jeromy Farkas says the ordeal “showed how quickly our police officers are called to run toward danger to protect others.”
While Ward 6’s Coun. John Pantazopoulos says it was “deeply concerning for people across the west side, particularly those who live nearby or were in the area.”
Monday’s incident
According to police, officers were conducting a traffic stop in Spruce Cliff around 11:45 a.m.
Police say “an occupant of the vehicle fired shots,” striking one officer.
They say the suspect — a male — then fled into Edworthy Park, where officers followed on foot as well as by air with a HAWCS helicopter.
Multiple times, Insp. Darren Smith says, the suspect “discharged rounds at our officers and our officers returned fire.”
It’s believed the suspect fired at passersby as well.
Police say they ultimately found the suspect dead in the river.
They say he “was subject to a self-inflicted gunshot wound.”
They’re not saying whether the suspect was struck by police gunfire, noting that “will be investigated by ASIRT.”
The province’s police watchdog, the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team, confirms it’s investigating.
That investigation, which ASIRT calls “large and complex,” is in its early stages.
ASIRT says while the officer’s shooting is “a serious part of the overall chain of events,” its direction is “to investigate the circumstances of the [suspect’s] death.”
ASIRT encourages witnesses and anyone with related evidence or recordings to call 403-592-4306.
Police say the officer who was shot is expected to make a full recovery. He was released from hospital on Tuesday.
No passersby were injured.
Offering thoughts
Farkas and Pantazopoulos say their thoughts are with the officer who was shot, his family and his colleagues on the local force.
Farkas says the responsibility “is to stand behind the officers who protect this city.”
He says that means “understanding exactly what happened” and “making sure our police have the people, tools and resources they need.”
Pantazopoulos says Edworthy Park is “an important and much-loved part of our community.”
He says now that it’s reopened, it’s a priority that residents “continue to feel safe enjoying it.”
Premier Danielle Smith also says her thoughts are with the officer who was shot, as well as his family and colleagues.
She says officers “put on the uniform knowing a routine call can turn deadly in a moment’s notice.”
And she encourages everyone to “thank them for their service” if the opportunity presents itself.
‘Worrisome’ trend
Doug King, a criminal justice professor at Mount Royal University, says stats show something “worrisome.”
He says police in Canada “are finding more weapons, in particular firearms,” when “engaging with the general public in things like traffic stops and confrontations on the street.”
Two of King’s former students recently became officers, and he says they were on his mind.
He says he wondered, “How do you reach out to see if they were the ones at risk?”
King has been teaching for 35 years, and he says the number of students wanting to become officers “is starting to shrink.”
He says part of it “is it’s a world of danger out there, and they’re not ready to take that that risk on.”
With files from Kevin Green and The Canadian Press
