Calgary police officer recovering from 'severe' injuries after machete attack
Dave Dormer | CBC News | Posted: September 18, 2016 9:15 PM | Last Updated: September 18, 2016
Blade measured at 48.3 centimetres
The Calgary police officer who was attacked by a machete-wielding man at Marlborough Mall remains in hospital recovering from severe injuries.
The officer, who has been on the force for about two years, responded to reports of a man swinging a machete at the Marlborough LRT station around 2 p.m. Saturday.
When the officer approached him, the man ran into the mall.
The officer chased him into Sears, where the man pulled out a 48.3-centimetre machete.
Calgary police say the officer tried to subdue the man with a Taser, but it had no observable impact.
The officer drew his gun and the man attacked, slashing the officer and causing severe injuries, police said.
The officer drew his gun and the man attacked, slashing the officer and causing severe injuries, police said.
The officer shot the man.
EMS took both men to Foothills Hospital. The officer is in stable condition and the man in serious, life-threatening condition, having to undergo emergency surgery.
Police say the machete-wielding man is 20 years old and is known to them.
Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) is now investigating. Anyone with information is asked to call police at 403-266-1234 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
The incident was one of two Saturday police shootings that ASIRT is now investigating.
About an hour earlier, officer pulled a silver pickup over near the Blackfoot Truckstop Diner and as they approached it, noticed the driver acting suspiciously with a rifle next to him.
The driver was told not to move, but he put the vehicle in reverse and crashed into a black minivan before going forward.
A member with 20 years experience shot at the vehicle and it crashed into a natural gas meter, severing the line. The 23-year-old driver tried to flee on foot and was arrested suffering minor injuries, likely from broken glass, police said.
He was not hit by a bullet.
A 15-year-old girl also in the vehicle was later released to her guardian.
The area had to be evacuated while crews repaired the gas lines.
"The first... incident I would characterize as a discharge of a firearm, nobody was injured as a result," said ASIRT executive director Susan Hughson.
"But the second incident where you have a person shot and in life-threatening condition initially and you have an officer seriously injured, that's obviously the more serious of the two."
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