Police boss stands by officers after suspect shot in stolen truck standoff in southeast Calgary

Calgary's deputy police chief says the officers who dealt with a stolen truck investigation that spanned several hours on Thursday and culminated in a suspect being shot did a good job preventing an already dangerous situation from getting out of control.

Speaking to the media on Friday, Bob Ritchie said the investigation started at about 6 p.m. Thursday when officers with the auto theft resource team noticed a stolen Dodge Ram pickup truck in Ogden in the city's southeast.

The two suspects in the truck, a man and a woman, were wanted in connection with a series of car prowlings the day before in which a weapon was involved, Ritchie said.

Officers called for backup from a tactical unit and for surveillance from a HAWCS helicopter.

Police tracked the vehicle for about four and half hours, when it stopped at a house in Auburn Bay in the city's southeast.

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"The residence had a number of people gathered in the garage, and our tactical members made the decision that it was not safe to effect an arrest at this time," Ritchie said.

Police set up a spike belt a short distance away. At about 10:30 p.m., the two suspects, who had been in the Dodge Ram, got back in, left the residence, and drove over the spike belt, which punctured the front right tire.

They continued to drive on the flat tire for a short while before coming to a stop in the 100 block of Autumn View S.E.

At that point, a stolen Toyota Highlander that had also been at the Auburn Bay house arrived, and the two suspects from the Dodge got into it,

"Two tactical vehicles attempted to stop the Highlander from leaving the scene, when a confrontation occurred," Ritchie said. "At this time, a tactical service member discharged his service firearm."

The Highlander stopped at the 100 block of Autumn Terrace S.E. The person who had been shot was arrested and taken to hospital in stable condition. Two other suspects fled, but were caught a short distance away and arrested.

Charges are pending against all three suspects, a 20-year-old man, a 22-year-old woman who were in the Dodge and 33-year-old man. All of them were already known to police, Ritchie said.

Ritchie said early indications are that it would not have been feasible for the officer to have used a non-lethal alternative to his firearm.

"I'm not going to second guess the officers," he said.

Ritchie says the way the situation unfolded is an example of the dangers faced by officers in their efforts to tackle the vehicle theft problem in Calgary.

"That speaks to the criminality, the commitment of these offenders, and what our officers are faced with," he said.

"They're calling in additional stolen vehicles. And the dynamics of that, we have now another vehicle entering that equation. We have another offender entering that equation, and how chaotic that becomes for our officers."

The 22-year veteran officer who shot the suspect has been put on the standard 30-day administrative leave.

ASIRT investigating

The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team is investigating, asASIRTalways does after police incidents that result in serious injury or death.

No police officers or members of the public were injured.

"We exhausted resources over numerous hours looking for the safest apprehension of these offenders," Ritchie said.

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