EDMONTON — Edmonton police have been cleared of any wrong doing in the fatal shooting last year of a distraught man.
The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team that investigates police shootings announced Tuesday the officer who killed Kinling Robin Fire will not face criminal charges.
Executive director Clif Purvis said Fire was depressed and had taken several sleeping pills when concerned family members called police on the night of March 30, 2011.
The 39-year-old had already driven off when officers arrived but they soon located his car and boxed it in an alley.
Fire climbed out of the vehicle armed with a steel bar about 46 cm long, said Purvis.
He said one officer knocked Fire down with his cruiser but the man got back up and ran at an officer standing outside. Fire ignored demands to drop the weapon and was shot twice in the torso.
Purvis said Fire continued to resist police as they handcuffed him. He died the next day in hospital.
At the time, a relative described Fire as suicidal over a custody battle with his ex-girlfriend. But Purvis said it’s not clear what Fire was thinking and whether he intended to have officers kill him.
“If this individual was suicidal, it’s a tragedy whether he dies as a result of being shot by police or at his own hand. Nothing in relation to this investigation is going to diminish this tragedy.”