'People got to be safe:' Manitoba premier responds to fatal police shooting

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew offered condolences Monday to the families affected by two fatal police shootings in the province and spoke to the challenge faced by officers on the front lines.

"I want to take the opportunity to thank police officers across this province who go to work and keep us safe each and every day," Kinew said while at the convention for the Association of Manitoba Municipalities.

The night before, a street standoff involving police left one man dead and an officer recovering from a stab wound to the throat.

Kinew told reporters no one wants to see a person die after an altercation with police but officers are often tasked with responding to high-risk situations.

"Police officers have a difficult job to do, that's at the best of times, so I support law enforcement," he said.

"When we're thinking about the holidays and people going to the malls and people going to the shopping areas around the province, people have got to be safe."

Police were called early Sunday evening to the Unicity shopping area in the city's far west about an officer who had been stabbed in the throat and a suspect who had been shot.

Acting police Chief Art Stannard later told reporters that officers had been in the area as part of a retail theft initiative, which sees police work in hot spots in the city that have seen a rise in retail theft and violent crime.

Police said the man who was shot was given CPR at the scene before he was taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

They said the injured officer was also transported to hospital and treated for his injury.

Police declined to provide more details about what happened, including the age or identity of the man killed, noting the case is being reviewed by the police watchdog agency -- the Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba.

The agency confirmed it's investigating the death of the man but did not provide any other details.

Videos circulating on social media appear to show a man being shot outside a bus shelter. In a 24-second clip, two police officers tell a person "to put it down" and "to drop it." The man appears to advance toward the officers and at least one officer begins shooting.

It's not clear in the video whether the man who was shot was holding a weapon.

Stannard told reporters Sunday he's aware of the video and asked the public to avoid rushing to judgment.

Coun. Markus Chambers, chair of the Winnipeg Police Board, said Sunday's incident is tragic for all involved and noted it could renew calls for the board to implement body cameras.

"Body-worn cameras likely wouldn't have resulted in this not happening, but it is a mechanism of looking at the accountability around what happened," Chambers said.

The councillor said the board would be monitoring the rollout of body cameras in RCMP detachments across the province to see if they're effective.

It was the second fatal police shooting in three days.

A 17-year-old boy from Norway House Cree Nation was shot and killed by an RCMP officer on Friday. Mounties said they received a report that a man was agitated and armed with an edged weapon in a home on the First Nation, north of Winnipeg.

RCMP said the teen was outside with the weapon when officers arrived and, despite numerous orders to drop it, he moved toward them and was shot.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 25, 2024.