SIRT called in after officer shoots, wounds man while executing search warrant in Saskatoon
CBC
Saskatchewan's police watchdog is investigating an incident in which a Saskatoon police officer shot and wounded a man while executing a search warrant early Saturday.
Saskatchewan's Serious Incident Response Team (SIRT) was called in after a member of the Saskatoon Police Service tactical support unit shot a 34-year-old man who was taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries, police said in a news release. Police say he is believed to be in stable condition.
Two women at the residence were also arrested.
The shooting happened while the unit was executing a search warrant on a home on the 600 block of Lisgar Avenue in the Pacific Heights neighbourhood in the west end of the city at about 2:30 a.m. CST.
The news release says the search warrant was related to an investigation for an aggravated assault with guns, but police say they discovered a dead body in the home and the death is considered suspicious.
Ashley Netowaysin, who lives in a home directly across the street from where the shooting happened, said both she and her newborn baby slept through the commotion and gunshot.
"I woke up to feed my daughter and I seen all the cop cars," Netowaysin said. "There were about four undercover cop cars down here," as well as the tactical support unit.
Netowaysin said police, paramedics and a fire truck were at the current crime scene — now with yellow police tape in front of it — earlier in the week.
"My mom goes out and she's been here, you know, switching her vehicles, and they're walking by saying 'Hi' and stuff. Like, are we saying 'hi' to someone that killed someone?" Netowaysin said.
Police ask people to avoid the area while they investigate. They say traffic restrictions have been put up in the Lisgar Avenue area.
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