WINNIPEG — Manitoba's police watchdog has cleared two officers in the shooting death of a Winnipeg man who confronted police with an axe while officers tried to hospitalize him for mental health concerns.
Bruce M. Sychuk, acting civilian director of the Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba, said an investigation into the shooting found there are no reasonable grounds to support any charges against the two officers.
"It is my view that, in the full consideration of the circumstances of this tragic incident, the use of lethal force by the subject officers was authorized and justified by law," Sychuk wrote in a report released Friday.
Police were called to a home in the North End neighbourhood on Feb. 13, 2024, to take the 59-year-old man to the hospital for a non-voluntary examination under the province's Mental Health Act.
Officers were asked to apprehend the man by a community health worker who said he had been violent towards workers, was off his medication and had not been attending appointments, the report said.
Police attempted to take the man in a week prior, but found he was not at home. The report detailed police were called to the home a month prior under similar circumstances where a tactical team was able to safely apprehend the man.
On the day of the shooting, officers visited the home when they were met by the man, who appeared agitated and was holding a crowbar, the report said. The man tried to close the door on them. When police tried to intervene, he discharged a fire extinguisher at them. He was then able to lock himself inside his home.
One of the officers told investigators he could hear the man say that he, "Only wanted to talk to God."
A tactical team was brought it to try and make contact with the man, who could be heard "yelling and screaming" but were unsuccessful, Sychuk said in the report. The team eventually used an armoured police vehicle to gain entry. They later found the front and back doors had been blocked with a homemade barricade.
The investigation found that the man had barricaded himself in a second-floor bedroom and that when officers tried to speak with him, he discharged a fire extinguisher for a second time. Later, when officers attempted to advance on the man, he swung an axe striking a protective shield one of the officers was carrying, the report said.
Neither of the two officers who fired shots participated in an interview with investigators, but did provide written statements. It is not mandatory for police to speak with the unit during investigations.
One officer said he feared for his life.
"(The man) raised the axe in the air towards me and my teammates in a chopping motion," the officer said in a written statement.
"In that moment, fearing for my life and fearing of grievous bodily harm or death to myself and my teammates, I discharged my pistol."
The man was transported to hospital in critical condition where he later died.
The case garnered much public attention raising questions on whether police should be involved in mental health matters. A number of advocates have called for a shift in who responds to these types of calls, arguing the presence of uniformed police can escalate a tense situation.
The city started a pilot project in 2021 that pairs up a plainclothes officer with a mental health clinician to respond to people experiencing a mental health crisis when it is deemed safe enough to do so.
At the time, police said this wasn't the case.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 31, 2025.
Brittany Hobson, The Canadian Press
