The man had two “potentially improvised firearms” and a “modified firearm,” according to the Alberta Serious Crimes Team. Police first spotted the man at 6:30 p.m. on March 25, while sitting at a picnic table at 103A in front of Edmonton Police Headquarters (EPS). “He was holding something that looked like a pistol,” the ASIRT briefing said. Police began pursuing the man at 6:40 p.m. as he was walking backwards while looking at the police, heading north on 96th Street. “The man was carrying what appeared to be a firearm with an extended barrel,” ASIRT claimed. The man then walked east on a path near Bissell Center and an LRT tunnel in the city center near 95th Street and 105th Avenue. “Officers spoke to the man and tried to defuse the situation. A directional weapon was fired twice at the man. The man continued to move away from the officers holding the object,” ASIRT said. “At approximately 6:47 a.m., a collision occurred at the northeast corner of the intersection of 95th Street and LRTs, during which four police officers dropped their firearms, hitting the man.” Ambulances were called to the scene and the man was pronounced dead at the hospital at 7:45 a.m., according to ASIRT. Images of two of the “weapons” that ASIRT said the man had with him were shared, but no photo of the third was given. The use of force by the officer is still under investigation. The man is the fourth person to die in three different EPS shots since the beginning of the year. ASIRT asked anyone with information to contact them at 780-644-1483.
