Two Alberta RCMP officers shot while executing warrant

HARDISTY, Alta (Canadian OH&S News)

Two RCMP officers are “recovering satisfactorily” in hospital after being shot and wounded at a rural residence near Hardisty, Alberta.

At about 2 pm on February 7, four members of the Killam RCMP detachment arrived at the residence to execute a search warrant, says a statement from the Alberta RCMP. During an exchange of gunfire, two officers received serious injuries and one man in the house was shot. Police surrounded the house overnight and stormed in the following morning, where they found the man dead.

Sergeant Patrick Webb, a spokesman for the Alberta RCMP, says that Constables Sidney Gaudette and Sheldon Shah have both undergone surgery and are recovering in hospital. Gaudette has five years of experience with the RCMP and Shah has two, he adds.

Police continued to search for 27-year-old Sawyer Robison, who was reportedly seen leaving the same residence after the four RCMP officers arrived on the afternoon of February 7. “We’re not doing any physical searches at any locations or roadblocks or anything like that,” Webb says. “We’re following up on information, trying to determine where he might be, but no physical search going on right now.”

Robison was charged with two counts of attempted murder in the shooting of Constables Gaudette and Shah, the statement says. The Killam detachment and adjacent detachments continued the search of residences and outbuildings on the property and Robison was arrested without incident on the morning of February 10 in a rural area southeast of Edmonton.

The incident has been referred to the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team, an independent agency that investigate all incidents involving serious injury or death that may have resulted from police actions.

The shooting occurred just over two months after two other Red Deer RCMP officers suffered non-life-threatening injuries following an exchange of gunfire during an 18-hour standoff at a rural residence near the small village of Breton. At about 5 pm on December 3, officers were called to a sparsely populated area west of the village after receiving a report that a 35-year-old man had been shot (COHSN December 12, 2011).

A stand-off ensued and at about 3:30 am on December 4, police exchanged gunfire with occupants inside the house; two people were taken into custody later in the morning.