Skip to content

Suicide-by-cop suspect pleads guilty

Sentencing will he held in October for a Red Deer man shot by police investigating reports of an attempted suicide.

Sentencing will he held in October for a Red Deer man shot by police investigating reports of an attempted suicide.

In a statement of facts read for Judge Jim Glass in Red Deer provincial court on Tuesday, Crown prosecutor Brittany Ashmore said an RCMP dispatcher received a 911 call on May 1 from a man stating that he intended to commit suicide.

The caller said he had a loaded Smith & Wesson .22 calibre revolver in his hand and that he would open fire if anyone knocked on the door of his apartment, located in downtown Red Deer.

The RCMP Telecoms operator reported that she was able to hear a gun clicking in the background as she spoke with the caller, said Ashmore.

The caller told her he had purchased the revolver on the street and that there were four rounds left in the chamber. He said he had pointed it at his head and fired, but it had blanked.

Mounties arrived at the building to find a man in the second-floor hallway with a pistol in his right hand.

“They saw him bring the gun up and he appeared to point it (toward them) at head level,” said Ashmore. One of the officers fired two rounds at the man and shouted at him to drop the weapon. When he did not comply, the officer fired a third shot, hitting the man in his stomach.”

The pistol landed on the floor with its hammer cocked, ready to fire another round.

Investigators discovered on closer inspection that it was a pellet gun.

Ashmore said hospital staff later reported to police that the man had commented to them while he was being taken into treatment.

He said, “I hoped they would kill me. I don’t blame them, they did what they had to do. I wanted to die,” said Ashmore.

Represented by Legal Aid Society counsel Murray Shack, Jesse Dyvig, 28, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to assaulting a police officer with a weapon and dangerous use of a weapon. Dyvig was arrested and charged on May 31, and then released from custody on an undertaking to police.

His sentence hearing was set over to Oct. 17 to allow time for preparation of a pre-sentence report.

bkossowan@www.reddeeradvocate.com