RCMP officer involved shooting in Wheatland County

An RCMP officer involved shooting on February 12 at around 2:15 p.m. is being investigated by ASIRT after a 37 year old Calgarian female was shot in an altercation.

The incident occurred when Airdrie RCMP received a call from Calgary Police Service (CPS) to assist in locating an erratically driving vehicle. An RCMP officer attempted a traffic spot, but the vehicle fled, resulting in a CPS helicopter being used to maintain visual contact while RCMP officers worked to stop the vehicle, which the helicopter reported was driving at high speeds and sometimes in the oncoming lanes. The vehicle was stopped in Wheatland County near the intersection of Highway 564 and Range Road 245 after an RCMP officer deployed a tire deflation device. Once the vehicle was stopped, an RCMP officer attempted to arrest the driver, but an altercation occurred which resulted in the officer shooting her. The 37 year old woman was transported to a Calgary hospital with gunshot injuries by STARS, and no officers were physically harmed.

The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) has since begun investigating the circumstances of the shooting.

"The Alberta RCMP believes in processes that seek the facts and it’s important that processes taken to assess the actions of all those involved, including the police, are fair, transparent, and defendable. This is why, as soon as we became aware of this incident, we immediately notified the Director of Law Enforcement and initiated our internal review process," an RCMP press release said.

The press release added the RCMP is fully cooperating with ASIRT, and independent of ASIRT's investigation they are also working on their own internal review process to gather a full account of what happened.