Brutality Canada Police Brutality O Canada

Alberta police shooting caught on video

Man lunged at cop with knife, police say

June 22, 2001. 11:40 PM
The Toronto Star

SHERWOOD PARK, Alta. (CP) - An RCMP officer fired a point-blank shot at a distraught and possibly suicidal young man Friday afternoon in this community just east of Edmonton.

RCMP spokesman Const. Al Fraser said the young man was taken to University of Alberta Hospital in Edmonton.

A hospital spokesman described his condition as "critical but stable.''

"It's terrible, very unfortunate,'' said Fraser. "We're hoping for the very best.''

The incident was captured live on video by a news crew from Edmonton CTV affiliate CFRN.

RCMP were called to a parking lot at about 1:30 p.m. after receiving reports a 21-year-old man distraught over a girl was resting against a rock and holding two knives.

"We had negotiated (with him) before the emergency response team attended,'' said Fraser.

"The negotiations weren't successful, he wouldn't talk to our negotiators. When the emergency response team people arrived, same thing.

"There was some negotiations, he became distraught and that's when he motioned toward one of our officers.''

On the videotape, about 12 officers can be seen surrounding the young man. At one point, an officer tried to grab one of his knives and the man scurried away.

The young man lied down for a moment, then stood up and started charging deliberately toward one uniformed officer.

"Stop, stop!'' the officer could be heard shouting as the young man approached. Then he fired, appearing to hit the young man in the chest.

The young man immediately dropped to the ground and two tactical officers could be seen moving in and making sure he was down.

Fraser said the young man was immediately transported to hospital.

Mountie shoots knife-wielding man in standoff

Conal Mullen, Journal Staff Writer
Saturday 23 June 2001
The Edmonton Journal

An RCMP officer shot a man armed with a knife after he ran at police during a standoff near Sherwood Park on Friday evening.

A wounded 21-year-old man from Edmonton was taken to hospital and underwent surgery late Friday. He was reported in critical but stable condition.

The incident started about 1:30 p.m. when a man, whom police described as upset, arrived at a home in a rural area near Sherwood Park and asked to see a young woman who lived there with her parents. He lay on the grass outside the home for about three hours.

At about 3 p.m., RCMP got a phone call about a "suspicious person" who wouldn't leave the property, said Const. Al Fraser. Officers found a man near the basketball hoop in the yard and started to talk to him.

"He pulled out two knives and was brandishing them to the officers," Fraser said.

The RCMP moved back and the man lay down on the ground, his head resting on a rock, his feet toward the house.

Officers tried to negotiate with the man and more were sent to the scene. But after a while, the man didn't want to talk any more, Fraser said.

An emergency response team that included "a highly trained negotiator" was sent to the area, he said.

To ensure safety, RCMP moved everyone from the house, along with several adults and about 10 children from the day-care centre in the nearby Word of Life Tabernacle church.

"There was no harm to anyone in the area," Fraser said.

Members of the emergency response team were within three metres of the man as he lay on the ground and were trying to talk to him.

One bent down, reached forward and tried to disarm him, but he didn't succeed and he withdrew, Fraser said.

The assailant then rose with a knife and advanced toward the officer.

That's when he was ordered to stop. When he continued, the officer fired one shot into the man's stomach, Fraser said. The shooting happened at 6 p.m.

An ambulance on standby picked the man up within two minutes and took him to hospital in Edmonton.

He said the young woman the man was waiting for showed up at the scene after the shooting.

Man shot by police knew family

He refused to leave until he had seen their daughter

Susan Hagan, Journal Staff Writer
The Edmonton Journal
Sunday 24 June 2001

A man shot by an RCMP officer outside a rural Sherwood Park home Friday was an acquaintance of the family, says the 19-year-old woman he was determined to visit.

She said it has been two years since she has seen the 21-year-old man, whom she identified as Marty Thomas. The woman did not want her name used.

"I don't know what led up to it," she said, as her gaze swept the concrete step outside her home where her Great Dane stood.

"I have no idea why he wanted to see me ... It was very strange. I didn't think he would go that far."

Her parents were long-time friends of Thomas's parents through the Word of Life Tabernacle Church, where her father is the assistant pastor. Thomas's parents were involved with the church until they moved to Saskatchewan. They came to Edmonton on Friday to visit their son in hospital, accompanied by her own parents, the woman said.

The disturbance started Friday at 1:30 p.m. when the man apparently arrived at the home where the woman lives with her parents. RCMP said he refused to leave until he saw the woman, who was at work at the time. Her parents called her and told her not to come home until it was safe.

But the man would not leave. When RCMP were called in at about 3 p.m., they found him near a basketball hoop, which now lies knocked on its side in the yard.

When officers tried to talk to the man, he pulled out two knives, RCMP said. They moved back and the man lay down on the ground with his head resting on a large rock, near a horse buggy filled with potted flowers.

The immediate area was evacuated, including 10 children from a church day-care centre. After hours of negotiating, a member of the emergency response team failed in his attempt to disarm the man.

The man then rose and charged the officer, ignoring repeated warnings to stop. The standoff ended at about 6 p.m. when an officer fired one shot into the man's stomach.

"He just showed up," the woman said, adding she wants to put the incident behind her. "Nothing happened to me."

Shooting victim 'harassed woman'

Marty Thomas had to leave church over his 'obsession'

Chris Purdy, Journal Staff Writer
The Edmonton Journal
Tuesday 26 June 2001

The man RCMP shot during a standoff in Sherwood Park last week harassed and fantasized about the woman he was demanding to see, says the pastor of the Word of Life Tabernacle Church.

Marty Thomas, 21, was asked to leave the church two years ago when he refused to stop sending letters and making phone calls to the daughter of the church's assistant pastor, said pastor Terry Sproule.

"It was flat-out obsession," Sproule said Monday. "He felt like God had given her to him."

Thomas went to the 19-year-old woman's family home Friday afternoon, demanding to see her.

She was not home but two of her sisters were there, caring for several young children as part of the church's day-care program, said Sproule."They asked him to leave or they would phone police. He said, 'Go ahead.' "

About 20 RCMP officers, some with Edmonton's emergency response team, went to the home and negotiated with Thomas for three hours.

He allegedly pulled out two knives -- a folding buck knife and another knife, about 15 cm long, wrapped in a sheath.

He refused to leave. He said he needed to see the woman. He needed to look into her eyes, Sproule said.

Thomas charged at an officer with a knife and was shot in the stomach. He underwent surgery and is listed in fair condition at Royal Alexandra Hospital.

"Thank the Lord, he's going to be OK," Sproule said.

Sproule said he and several members of the church tried to talk Thomas out of his fantasies about the young woman when the problem first arose.

But things didn't change. He left the congregation willingly and the trouble stopped.

A few months ago, Thomas phoned Sproule and asked if he could return. But his obsession remained, said Sproule.

"He said, 'I had a dream and she's mine.' We just said, 'Look, it's not possible.' "

The woman had never dated Thomas or led him on, Sproule said. "This was completely his fantasy."

Sproule said the close-knit congregation of 400 is devastated by the incident. At Sunday church service, he told worshippers not to criticize police.

"Marty has no one to blame but himself," Sproule said.

"If you come out armed with knives, you're asking for trouble."

RCMP are reviewing the shooting. No charges have been laid.

Const. Al Fraser with the Sherwood Park detachment said officers negotiated with the man for as long as they could.

He said using pepper spray was not an option. "You have to use a level of force higher than what you're being threatened with."

He said it is not practice to wound a threatening person by shooting him in the leg or arm.

"We don't train to injure because the threat can still continue to come after you," Fraser said.

"We aim for the centre of the mass to eliminate that threat."

The last police shooting in Sherwood Park occurred in last July. An RCMP officer shot real-estate appraiser John Spitzner four times after Spitzner chased his wife with a gun and threatened to kill her.

One slug shattered Spitzner's thigh bone and two others lodged in his leg and pelvis.

The 56-year-old appeared in court in November using a walker.

He was sentenced to three years in prison for assault with a weapon, possession of a dangerous weapon and unlawful confinement.

FOUR SHOOTINGS

There have been four police shootings in Alberta in the past two months:

- April 29 -- A Lethbridge police officer shot and killed a knife-wielding man, 53-year-old Allan Thomas Symons, during an altercation at his apartment.

- May 16 -- An Edmonton tactical officer shot and killed a man, 31-year-old John Pavic, after he lunged at the officer with a butcher knife at his apartment.

- June 1 -- A Hobbema RCMP officer shot a man in the abdomen who refused to put down his gun. Dennis Greene, 19, survived and was charged with dangerous use of a firearm and possession of a weapon dangerous to the public.

- June 22 -- An Edmonton RCMP emergency response officer shot a man in the stomach as he charged at him with a knife. Marty Thomas, 21, is listed in fair condition in hospital.

Tuesday 26 June 2001

Chief quick to pass judgment after death
Tough questions need to be asked

I read the letter by Peter Ratcliff, president of Edmonton Police Association, with interest. ("Officers victims of yellow journalism," Journal, June 23.)

I too have hesitated to comment on recent tragic events, hoping they were not indicative of a systemic problem within the Edmonton and area police forces.

However, after Friday's shooting in the Sherwood Park area I must protest.

Yes, day-to-day policing is a privilege; shooting distraught young people is not.

Regarding the Charter, I am thankful for the benefits every single day.

I do agree with Ratcliff that regarding past events "the prudent course would be to await the outcome of the investigation into the incident and the report that will accompany it ... ."

It's too bad Edmonton police Chief Bob Wasylyshen didn't share this view when he answered John Pavic's incredible and tragic death with the words "There is no doubt that deadly force was appropriate."

The shock behind such a statement cannot be attributed to "yellow journalism" but rather to the integrity of a man who should consider resigning.

The chief also stated that the tactical squad did not expect "the level of violence." This puzzles me, as don't tactical forces train for just such "unexpected violence" or must it always be of the "expected kind?"

How many police officers actually die each year in Canada at the hands of emotionally distraught young men with no firearms? Are not tactical officers wearing bullet-proof vests, helmets and shields?

I hope our "yellow journalists" ask some very tough questions.  
A.W. Stoyko,
Vegreville

Reprinted under the Fair Use doctrine of international copyright law.

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