There are conflicting reports about whether a 39-year-old Edmontonian was armed with a weapon when he was fatally wounded by an officer early Thursday morning.
Kinling Robin Fire lost his life in the parking lot near his apartment, located at 100th Avenue and 155th Street, around midnight.
Family members tell CTV News Fire was depressed and had taken a bottle of sleeping pills around 11 p.m., before driving off in his PT Cruiser.
Police were called and met him when he returned an hour later.
"The cops were already waiting outside for him, eh? When he pulled in," said Fire's mother, who did not want to reveal her identity.
She says when she went outside to see what had happened, her son was handcuffed and lying in a pool of his own blood.
"The door was open. He was already laying on the ground… and he had blood on him," she said, insisting he wasn't armed.
"He was supposed to have a weapon, I didn't see nothing on the ground but him… No, it's not right. I'm very angry. Very angry."
Police, however, say Fire had a weapon and was acting in a threatening manner, forcing officers to take action.
"He aggressed the members [and], one of [our] members discharged his service weapon striking the man twice," said Acting Insp. Chris Epler.
The death comes less than two months after 17-year-old Cyrus Green was also shot and killed by police.
Acting Chief Darryl da Costa argues it shows officers are responding to increasingly volatile situations.
"I think that what our members are finding is that they're more and more often dealing with people who have a combination of irrational behaviour, access to weapons, combined with alcohol and or drugs," he said.
"We're always concerned when our members have to
The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) has been called in to investigate, tasked with determining if the EPS member who fired the fatal shots was justified in his actions.
CTV is told that officer was given the rest of the day off. He is said to be traumatized, but otherwise okay.
resort of deadly force but we can't be concerned about optics."
Fire was taken to hospital in serious condition, but later died from his injuries.
Faye Bitternose argues there was no need to take the life of her uncle, who was a father.
"They shot him twice in the chest and in the stomach," she said while choking back tears. "He was a good man, he didn't deserve to die, he so much years in ahead of him."
No officers were hurt in the incident.
The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) has been called in to investigate, tasked with determining if the EPS member who fired the fatal shots was justified in his actions.
CTV is told that officer was given the rest of the day off. He is said to be traumatized, but otherwise okay.
With Files from Bill Fortier
