A man wanted on a Canada-wide warrant was found dead inside a home in the northwest neighbourhood of Rosedale after police say he shot at officers who tried to make an arrest.
The incident had prompted a shelter-in-place order, which has since been lifted, for a stretch of Crescent Road and the surrounding area after the gunshots rang out Thursday afternoon.
Police say the suspect exited his car in the 500 block of Crescent Road N.W. around 3:40 p.m., and shot at a home in the area. Calgary Police Service Deputy Chief Cliff O’Brien said there were people inside the house the suspect fired at, but those residents sheltered in place and were not injured.
He, and a woman who was with him, then entered a different nearby house.
When a police tactical unit responded, O’Brien said officers were shot at from inside the house the suspect had entered, with bullets striking the armoured vehicle the officers were in.
Just after 5 p.m., police said they were dealing with a suspect with a gun, adding the threat was contained to a home in the neighbourhood. It was around this time, police later explained, that the woman who had also entered the residence surrendered to police.
Police said they confirmed the man was dead inside the home around 7:10 p.m., and reported no other injuries resulted from the incident.
“We have somebody that’s shooting at a house with innocent people in it and then is shooting at police,” said O’Brien. “So the scope is … whatever it was going to take to make sure our community was safe and this person was apprehended as quickly as possible. In this case, the person was found deceased inside the residence.”
O’Brien said there doesn’t appear to be a connection between the suspect and either the home he shot at or the house he entered, but that police will be investigating to confirm those details.
The situation was resolved around 8 p.m., police said.
‘A very dangerous situation,’ say police
“We had a very dangerous situation for our community. Thank you to the community for their co-operation,” O’Brien told media on Thursday night.
The area is well-known for its spectacular views of the Calgary skyline, and often sees many people using the pathway system across the street from many multimillion-dollar homes.
“When you take a look at the pedestrian traffic, you look at people on bicycles, you look at people in cars that were driving by that crisis point before the police were able to get there, we’re lucky nobody else got hurt,” said O’Brien.
“So we’re lucky that the innocent people that were in that residence that was getting shot at didn’t get hurt.”
O’Brien added police had been looking for the suspect for weeks.
During the incident, westbound Crescent Road was closed off beginning at Second Street N.W. Crescent Park in the Crescent Heights neighbourhood was closed as well. Police drones were also active, flying in the area.
Residents who live in the area who could not access their homes had been sent to Crescent Heights High School until the incident was resolved.
Crescent Heights High School also sent a note to parents on Thursday saying there were students there for athletic tryouts when police asked everyone to get inside the school.
Students who were outside were immediately brought into the gym, the note read. It further explained that police later determined there was no threat to the school, and students were allowed to go home.
The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team has been tasked with reviewing the file, while police will oversee the investigation into the incident.
