CALGARY — Calgary police shot and killed a man early Sunday after an intense, two-hour standoff.
Police were called just before 1 a.m. following reports a man armed with a sawed-off shotgun was holding his 19-year-old neighbour hostage.
Chief Rick Hanson of the Calgary Police Service said the officer who fired the fatal shots is a member of the tactical team with roughly 20 years experience.
“He’s an experienced, experienced member with an outstanding reputation,” said Hanson.
“I’ve talked to him and he’s doing as well as can be expected.”
Bill Penny, 57, said he heard a noise outside around 1 a.m. and looked out his front window where he saw a group of heavily armed police officers.
“People loading shotguns in your front yard, even in this neighbourhood, it doesn’t happen every Saturday night, but it does happen,” he said.
Nearly two hours later, the area flooded with police, Penny heard three shots ring out.
“It was boom, boom, boom, real quick,” he said.
This was the third fatal shooting by police in Calgary in the last nine months.
In March, police shot and killed Travis Oakes in a car wash after he rammed a stolen car through a bay door into a police vehicle.
And in September, police shot and killed a knife-wielding Walid Mahamed Maragan in an apartment after he murdered his wife.