OKOTOKS — RCMP shot and killed a Okotoks man early Sunday morning after an armed standoff that followed an alleged domestic assault.
Police have not released the name of the victim, but the town’s deputy mayor identified him as Corey Lewis, the husband of town councillor Naydene Lewis.
“You certainly don’t expect anything to happen to people that are close to you,” Ralph Wilson said Sunday about the shock he and other council members were feeling.
RCMP Sgt. Patrick Webb said police were confronted by a man with a shotgun when they were responding to a complaint Saturday evening that a father had allegedly assaulted his teenage stepson.
Webb said the man refused to put down the shotgun and that he directly threatened people with it, so the officers withdrew and called in an emergency response team. The man was alone in the house and attempts were made to contact him, Webb said, but the man never responded.
Then, at about 2 a.m., Webb said the man suddenly ran out of the house carrying what looked like a gun, and an officer shot him. He was treated at the scene and taken to hospital in Calgary, but didn’t survive.
“He came basically charging out carrying what appeared to be a firearm,” Webb said. “As this is a police-involved shooting, the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team has been advised, they are on scene, and they will take over the investigation of the circumstances.”
Webb said the initial complaint about an assault was phoned in from a medical facility by the mother of a boy who was getting treatment at the facility.
The Okotoks town website says that Naydene Lewis and her family came to the town from Calgary almost five years ago, and that she grew up in B.C. coast. It says she “longed to raise her family in a small town.”
Wilson said Naydene Lewis has four children ranging in age from about five or six up to their teens. He said he knew Lewis well but had no hint that anything was wrong, or what might have led up to the standoff.
“None, not at all. We talk regularly at council meetings and share home thoughts at times and this came out of the blue,” Wilson said.
Webb said he wasn’t aware if police had been called to the house before.
Fellow Okotoks councillor Beth Kish said she, other council members, and the town are all offering their support for Lewis.
“It’s a sad situation. The phone lines have been buzzing between all our council colleagues. We’re all very saddened by the news and are worried for Naydene and her children. But they’re safe and well and we’re glad for that,” Kish said.