Whitehorse, YT – A Yukon RCMP officer has been cleared in a 2022 fatal shooting at Erik Nielsen Whitehorse International Airport concludes a report from the territory’s police watchdog.
The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) is called to investigate incidents involving police that result in injury or death. The report concluded that the officer was “acting properly in the execution of his duties.”
On November 24th, 2022, at roughly 12:40 p.m., the man followed an Air North employee through a security gate. He then got out of his truck with a black “.22 calibre carbine looking rifle,” and tried to fire at the employee but the gun failed to go off. The man cycled the action and put the gun under his chin and pulled the trigger but the gun continued to not fire.
The man got back in his truck and approached another person who was driving a highway tractor pulling a fuel tank. The person tried to drive away but the man got onto the driver’s side running board and struck the man in the head and face through the open window. The armed man followed him into a hanger and police were then called.
Police had surrounded the hanger in a small arc. The man approached police despite several officers telling him to stop and drop the weapon but he did not comply.
The man (circled in red) approaches the officers (circled in blue) from a hanger. Photo Courtesy of ASIRT.
The man reportedly said “shoot me” as he approached the officers.
When he got within around 10 metres of one of the officer’s vehicles, the officer fired two rounds which struck the man. He was taken to hospital where he died of his injuries.
ASIRT concluded that the officer, having exhausted all other options, was left with no reasonable alternative but to use lethal force to protect himself and others from harm. The use of force was deemed proportional to the threat presented.
No charges have been laid against the officer.
The report emphasized that the decision to use lethal force is never taken lightly and that officers are trained to use de-escalation techniques whenever possible.
The investigation closed with ASIRT’s executive director Michael Ewenson, expressing condolences to the man’s family and acknowledging the gravity of the incident.
