Axe found at shooting scene
Investigators from Alberta are in the Dawson City area continue to investigate after local RCMP shot a man they were attempting to arrest last Thursday.
Investigators from Alberta are in the Dawson City area continue to investigate after local RCMP shot a man they were attempting to arrest last Thursday.
Clif Purvis, the executive director of the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT), said investigators are still gathering the facts and expected to release more information later this afternoon.
According to the original RCMP press release from last Friday, the 32-year-old man, whose name has not been released, engaged police with a weapon and was shot when the officers feared for their safety.
A long-handled axe was recovered from the scene, a rural location a short distance outside of the town, Purvis said.
Following the shooting, police provided first aid and called for medical assistance. The man was then medevaced to Whitehorse, where he is still in hospital.
His condition has since been upgraded to serious, Purvis said.
ASIRT is a civilian organization, including retired police officers, with the mandate to investigate incidents involving serious injury or death resulting from the actions of a police officer.
The organization's goal is to determine whether the actions of the police were justified in this situation.
So far, two subject officers have been identified, Purvis said.
Whitehorse RCMP Sgt. Don Rogers said this morning he has no information on whether charges have been laid in connection with the case.
Comments (14)
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SRSLY ?? on Nov 1, 2011 at 3:00 am
Yeah, that's right. it's COMPLETELY unreasonable for a man to have an ax when at his woodcamp!
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Billy Polson on Oct 30, 2011 at 1:08 am
Shenya, "...not at all a dangerous person." ?.....
I find all police leave me alone when I'm not being an idiot. Not your experience?
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shenya on Oct 28, 2011 at 8:21 am
Oops, the recent comment by me was actually, "The individual or should I say, the victim was not at all dangerous."
Sending new police officer to the north especially coming from a city where these occurrences constantly take place should be orientated when coming here. The hospitalized victim is not at all a dangerous person.
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Michael Tillmann on Oct 28, 2011 at 12:51 am
PolarDenMother:
There are guns such as you describe. They're called Arwen guns, but they're fairly expensive and generally only used in riots.
As for knives and axes being "semi-dangerous", I would have to disagree with you. A bladed weapon is very dangerous and can kill you quite quickly. A slash across an artery, such as the carotid in the throat, and you will bleed to death in a minute or two.
Standard police training in many forces when faced with a blade is to not let the person get within 20 feet of you as it takes about 1.5 seconds to cross a distance of 20 feet or so when running, and that's about how long it takes to draw, aim and fire your gun too. Therefore, if they are closer than that, they can cut/stab you and you won't even have time to fire off a shot. If a person tries to get closer than that, training is to either shoot them or retreat. Sometimes retreating isn't possible though.
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Tom Stevens on Oct 28, 2011 at 12:51 am
PolarDenMother, really do you read what you write before you hit the send button. Right now the average cop has about thirty five pounds of crap on their belts to deal with, and you want them to add another special gun somewhere on the body for those who brandish axes, then failing that you want them all to engage in hand to hand combat with people who carry weapons. First my understanding is the dude shot had warrants so the cops were simply doing their jobs, secondly, drop the axe is a really simple request, do it and you get arrested, don't do it and you get shot, that's how the games played. All the decisions belonged to the guy with the axe, lets say this, he is lucky to be alive and I bet next time he leaves the axe at home.
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way to go on Oct 27, 2011 at 8:20 am
I hope the crowd that bitched and complained about the cops using tasers on 'poor innocent victims' of the police in past cases like this is happy now. I guess we should all be glad that cops have to go back to using live ammo...
I'd prefer being tasered to taking a couple rounds any day.
And wouldn't the really smart thing to do is just pull over to the side of the road and respectfully converse with the RCMP when they activated their lights in the first place? It would sure save a lot of hassle, injury, expense,etc.
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shenya on Oct 27, 2011 at 8:14 am
Right or wrong we all know the cop will walk away. I feel sick of what has happen to one that as I can see is dangerous.
Are we really in a safe environment? In Dawson it is so very difficult to get in touch with THE FORCE in event of a real emergency.
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PolarDenMother on Oct 26, 2011 at 5:45 pm
You know, it's kind of heartless to say one less goof is a good thing for everyone else, and why try to save him if you've severely shot him? That would be my first reaction to this news...but that's pretty heartless, like I said.
I'd like to know if you cops would consider designating a few special guns per shift which are loaded with rubber bullets for these special-occasion idiots with semi-dangerous weapons ? (axes & knives)
From close proximity to member's lives I've been long under the impression that the RCMP are trained in basic street-fighting moves, at least one of which would have to be disarming knife or axe wielding idiots without having to shoot. Maybe I'm wrong.
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flyingfur on Oct 26, 2011 at 7:53 am
Anon: I think the article clearly states that the man engaged the police with the weapon which to me suggests he exited the vehicle with the axe and it was not simply a case of having it in his trunk and getting shot for driving around with an axe.
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Come On Now on Oct 26, 2011 at 7:50 am
Seriously? Have you thought about this? An axe wielding person inside a house with innocent bystanders, and the police are supposed to gun them down? And then when a bullet ricochets and injures the innocent you will have all types of comments about their irresponsibility then. In order for a police officer to discharge their side arm there are a number of factors that must be concerned. I swear, everyone is always ready to jump down the throats of people doing their job.
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0icu812 on Oct 26, 2011 at 5:57 am
they should of used the tazer!
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Tom Stevens on Oct 25, 2011 at 5:53 am
There is an old saying "don't bring an axe to a gunfight"
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Anonymous on Oct 25, 2011 at 12:42 am
An Axe? Unbelievable!
Who would think a yukoner would have access to and/or carry an axe in his/her vehicle?
So the weapon was actually a survival tool everyone has in his/her possession up here. The fact that it was "found" at the scene don't mean anything, really.
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Go Figure on Oct 24, 2011 at 3:16 pm
Of course, The cops feared for their safety so they shoot the axe wielding man. But when it's a woman with 3 kids trapped inside a house with an axe wielding man, they won't shoot the man. Never mind the 4 being terrorized by the axe wielding man. Their fear didn't count enough for police to shoot? Cops were safe of course, they were outside watching for most of it. (Referring to the axe wielding man in Riverdale Whse almost 2 years ago.)