Lethal force by police in La Broquerie justified: IIU

A police shooting last May in La Broquerie that resulted in the death of a 51-year-old Ste Anne man holding a knife and who had just grabbed the neck of a motorist who was asking if he needed help was justified, according to a report from the Independent Investigation Unit (IIU) of Manitoba.

The shooting occurred off Highway 52 near the entrance to town at about 12:30 a.m. on May 24, 2024. Steinbach RCMP were first dispatched to La Broquerie at 11 p.m. earlier that night.

A witness called police to report a suspicious man who was standing outside her window looking for cigarettes. Police told the IIU that they knew the man and he had outstanding warrants.

When IIU investigators spoke to this witness (identified as CW1), she told them that she declined the man outside her window’s request for a cigarette and he staggered away. She took a video of the man and sent it to a second civilian witness (CW2). CW2 told CW1 to call 911 and lock her doors, saying the man could be dangerous under the influence of drugs.

A toxicology report confirmed meth was in the man’s system.

CW1 locked the door, called police and reached out to relatives to warn them the man was headed in their direction.

When RCMP arrived at CW1’s home, they told her to call 911 again if he returned. After police left, CW1 saw the man at a neighbour’s and called 911 to give the update.

CW1 saw the man leave the neighbour’s and approach another person, “stating something to the effect that he might as well kill the individual because the police were going to kill him,” read the IIU report. She told IIU she heard him yell “they are going to kill me” or “they are going to shoot me” before he left the area.

The neighbour told CW1 that he took two knives away from the man before he left.

Police told the IIU they returned to the station in Steinbach after an unsuccessful search for the man. They returned when another call came in from a witness who said the man was at the caller’s home, broke his TV, and now was yelling at people in the street.

Officers patrolled the area until they saw the man at a pulled over red car.

The driver of that car told police she was driving by when she saw the man acting erratically. She thought he had tried to enter another vehicle without success. She opened her window to ask if he was OK.

The report said the man responded that “they were trying to get me.” The driver asked who, and he said “everyone.”

That is when the man ran to the passenger side and tried to get in. The door was locked. The driver was about to take off when he ran to the other side and grabbed her neck.

Just as he had his hand around her throat, two police vehicles pulled up.

The man let go of the driver’s neck as police drew their weapons. The driver told the IIU she heard police yelling for the man to drop the knife six or seven times before shots were fired.

Police told the IIU two shots were fired from an officer’s pistol.

One officer checked on the driver as another performed CPR on the man. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Video was obtained from the police vehicles and a neighbouring business. The shooting happened before Steinbach RCMP received body-worn cameras.

The video from a police vehicle showed the man in an agitated state with a weapon but did not show the shooting, said the report.

The final autopsy report has not been completed, with preliminary cause of death noted to be gunshot wounds.