The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) has provided an update on the investigation into the death of a 15-year-old who was shot by police late last week in Wetaskiwin.
At approximately 12:30 a.m. on August 30th, RCMP responded to a report that a 15-year-old was being followed by individuals who intended to kill him. Shortly thereafter, an officer located the teen, and an altercation ensued, resulting in the teen being shot.
New video and audio recordings from the officer’s vehicle have been released. The footage shows the teen initially handing the officer a machete and knife, followed by a conversation. After the interaction, the officer believed the teen was at risk and attempted to apprehend him and search his backpack. Although the teen initially cooperated, he fled on foot. The officer pursued him, and along with other officers, found him in a field.
Surveillance video reveals that the officers approached the teen before exiting their vehicles. During the subsequent altercation, two officers fired their service weapons, striking the teen. Despite efforts to provide medical aid and calling paramedics, the teen was pronounced dead at the hospital.
The investigation into the incident is oFurther details on the fatal shooting will come out when ASIRT concludes its investigation. A timeline for that process has not been released — in recent years, some ASIRT files have taken two or more years to wrap up.
While ASIRT is investigating, the RCMP said it was also doing an internal review to gather a full account of what took place, including police training, policy and response.ngoing.
