The province’s police watchdog said a man shot by an officer after stabbing a victim 28 times in Siloam Mission’s parking lot in 2022 still has a bullet lodged in his brain.
The Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba cleared the Winnipeg police officer in the Jan. 28, 2022 shooting that November. The IIU released its final report on the incident Monday, after charges against the man who was shot had been dealt with in court. It’s not known what the result of the charges were.
The report includes new details regarding the incident, which happened shortly after 11:10 p.m.
The attacker was shot twice and suffered a traumatic brain injury. No attempts were made to remove the bullet in his brain. Another bullet went through his right thigh. The IIU previously said the man was “unable to participate in any interviews” because of “his level of competency.”
The stabbing victim told investigators he did not know his attacker and that he did not see the shooting because he had blood in his eyes. A Winnipeg Police Service news release sent the day after the shooting said the suspect was in his 20s and the victim was in his 40s.
Video reviewed by the IIU shows one man on top of another while stabbing him repeatedly on the west side of the parking lot. The attacker ran and then walked away after a police car arrived. The first officer to approach the suspect, who later shot the man, said he ignored his orders to drop the knife.
Another officer said he unintentionally hit the knife-wielding man while trying to pull up ahead of him. The man landed on his feet and swung the knife at another officer exiting from the passenger side of the vehicle when he was shot. The officer fired four of five shots, including two that hit the second WPS vehicle.
“I am satisfied that the extensive evidence gathered from all of the referenced sources, in particular the video surveillance footage, provides substantial support for the conclusion that the decision” to shoot the man “was necessary to prevent the injury or death of others in the vicinity,” former IIU civilian director Zane Tessler wrote in the report.
A spokesman for Siloam Mission said at the time of the stabbing that it wasn’t directed at staff members or people who use the shelter.
Another IIU report released Monday found city police did not cause the injuries of a man who suffered a skull fracture when falling and hitting his head on a concrete edge outside city hall late on May 11. A police officer was in an ambulance with the man because he was trying to get out. The man was later restrained after punching an officer in the face area while waiting for treatment at Health Sciences Centre.
adam.treusch@freepress.mb.ca