A Steinbach RCMP officer shot and killed a man who Mounties say refused to drop a weapon after choking a woman near La Broquerie early Friday.
Mounties were patrolling on Highway 52 near La Broquerie, a small community just east of Steinbach, at about 12:30 a.m. after receiving “numerous reports” of a suspicious man lurking in the area.
RCMP Sgt. Laura Ladrew, a major crimes investigator out of Winnipeg, said the Mounties then saw a vehicle parked “strangely” on Highway 52 near Nadeau Street, and saw a man standing near the driver’s door.
Ladrew said the man was reaching into the driver’s window, choking a woman with one hand while holding a knife in the other. She said the man and woman did not know each other.
“When they ordered him to drop the weapon and walk away, he did (walk away), but he didn’t drop the weapon and then essentially approached the officers, did not listen to their orders,” said Ladrew.
One officer then shot the man.
The Mounties gave him medical aid until emergency personnel arrived, but the 51-year-old man from the Ste. Anne area died at the scene. Ladrew said his next of kin had not yet been notified as of mid-afternoon Friday.
It remains unclear what led to the man attacking the woman, who had been driving in the area.
“It was a random meeting,” said Ladrew. “She came upon him.”
The woman was not physically harmed, Ladrew added.
RCMP are investigating some aspects of the incident, while the province’s police oversight agency is probing the fatal shooting itself.
“We have the incident, where it ended up, and now we’re backtracking to figure out exactly what occurred and why the officers arrived where they did,” said Ladrew.
The Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba, which probes all incidents of serious injury or death involving law enforcement, has asked witnesses or anyone with video related to the incident to call investigators at 1-844-667-6060.
Highway 52 was closed at the intersection of Highway 302 for hours Friday.
erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca
Erik Pindera
Reporter
Erik Pindera reports for the city desk, with a particular focus on crime and justice.
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