Thompson police officer shoots and seriously injures man
RCMP say man who was shot was armed with a knife
A 30-year-old man was shot and seriously injured by an RCMP officer in northern Manitoba on Monday afternoon in an incident that was caught on video and is circulating on social media.
Police were serving legal documents at a home in Thompson, about 650 kilometres north of Winnipeg, on Princeton Drive at about 2:45 p.m. when they encountered a man who was allegedly armed with a knife, RCMP said in a news release issued later that day.
The encounter resulted in the officer shooting the man, who was taken to hospital with a serious injury.
The grand chief of the Indigenous advocacy agency Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak is calling for action.
WATCH | Bystander caught the police shooting on video:
"I am extremely concerned to see the video of an MKO citizen who appears to have been shot by an RCMP officer today in Thompson, Manitoba. The video that is circulating is extremely disturbing," Garrison Settee said in an emailed statement.
Settee says he's been in touch with the RCMP and is expecting a full report about what took place.
"We are praying that the young person involved in this incident will survive and receive the support needed to heal from this."
The Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba has been notified and is taking over the investigation. The IIU investigates all serious incidents involving police in the province.
The equivalent organization in Ontario is known as the Special Investigations Unit, or SIU.
Videos reviewed
Criminal defence lawyer and former prosecutor Howard Morton served as the director of SIU from 1992 to 1995. Morton reviewed two videos of the Thompson incident circulating on social media.
"There are many things you don't know at this point," he said.
Both videos are set in a residential area. They appear to show someone in a red sweater walking toward an officer and the officer walking backward across a grassy area and toward a street.
Morton said in general, an individual with a knife is considered to be within lunging range if they're within 15 feet of another person. In the videos, the person in the red sweater comes within a few feet of the officer.
"The individual is definitely within striking range of the officer if that individual has a knife, and as the press release claims that he did," said Morton.
"On the other hand, though, the individual's arm seemed to be just at his side, and I think there would have to be some better description of exactly ... how the knife was being held."
Morton said it's unclear based on the videos whether the officer had any other options for defending himself, such as a Taser, that didn't involve use of potentially lethal force.
It's also unclear where the altercation began, based on the videos and RCMP description of events, whether the officer called for back up and whether the officer made attempts to de-escalate, said Morton.
RCMP have not said whether the individual the officer shot was known to police.
"We have to know far more information than I've certainly seen at this point to come to any judgment about this," said Morton.
With files from Bryce Hoye