As the Calgary Police Service rolled out 62 new downtown beat cops yesterday, Chief Rick Hanson defended the second police officer-involved shooting in less than a week.
On Tuesday night, police were called to a downtown building in the 1100 block of 8th Avenue SW for reports of a person being held at knifepoint.
When police arrived, the suspect allegedly went after police with the knife when he was shot once by a police officer, Hanson said.
“We don’t like to see these things happen, not at all. We don’t, but unfortunately they do happen,” Hanson said, adding the Alberta Serious Incident Response team is investigating.
“These are regrettable, but the officers are in a confined area and forced to react, and they did, again.”
Premier Ed Stelmach was also on hand at yesterday’s unveiling of the new officers, and weighed in on the discussion on the police shootings.
“It just shows that police are there for … the protection of the public and have to make split second decisions,” Stelmach said. “These are difficult decisions but they are always reviewed very carefully to make sure they are balanced.”
