ManitobaManitoba’s police watchdog is not recommending any charges against an RCMP officer who shot and killed a teenage boy outside a home in Norway House Cree Nation last November. IIU says RCMP acted reasonably in November incident that led to death of Elgyn Muskego, 17CBC News · Posted: Oct 18, 2025 4:39 PM EDT | Last Updated: 3 hours agoElgyn Muskego, 17, was shot and killed by an RCMP officer outside a home in Norway House Cree Nation on Nov. 22, 2024. (Submitted by Kathy Ettawacappo)Manitoba’s police watchdog is not recommending any charges against an officer who fatally shot a teenage boy outside a home in Norway House Cree Nation last year. On Nov. 22, 2024, 17-year-old Elgyn Muskego was shot after RCMP in Norway House, about 460 kilometres north of Winnipeg, got a call about a youth “high on pills and armed with a knife,” according to an Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba report published on Friday.The RCMP notification sent to officials with the IIU, which investigates all serious incidents involving police in the province, said officers found Muskego holding a knife in the driveway when they arrived at the scene. Police said the teen did not drop the knife when told to and continued to move toward them. That’s when one officer shot Muskego twice, the report said. Officers performed CPR and called paramedics, police said, but the boy died in hospital. As part of its investigation, the police watchdog interviewed three witness officers and three civilian witnesses, and reviewed officer reports and notes, audio transmissions, video recordings, medical reports and 911 calls. The officer who shot Muskego declined to be interviewed, providing investigators with a statement instead, says the report written by Bruce Sychuk, the investigation unit’s acting civilian director.An autopsy report said Muskego died of multiple gunshot wounds. Trace amounts of cannabis and a high dose of acetaminophen — the generic name for pain medications like Tylenol — were found in his bloodstream, the toxicology report showed. A file photo shows the Norway House RCMP detachment. Police in Norway House shot Muskego while responding to a call about a youth believed to be intoxicated and armed with a knife, according to the Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba. (Submitted by Manitoba RCMP)The officer who shot Muskego said in a statement that when he and his partner arrived, they saw Muskego outside the home as they pulled into the driveway and parked. The officer said Muskego faced the officers and was holding a knife in his right hand. He drew his gun and pointed at the teen after he heard his partner yelling, “Knife! Knife!” according to the report.He claimed that Muskego did not comply and moved toward them, and “transitioned from a walk into a sprint.”The officer fired his gun twice when Muskego was about five metres away, according to the statement. Incident lasted 10 seconds: officerAnother witness officer — one of four officers who responded to the weapons call — told investigators that every officer at the scene had their weapons drawn before the shooting and “everything happened so quickly,” the report said. The partner of the officer who fatally shot Muskego, who was interviewed more than two months after the shooting, said he “did not see who fired the two gunshots,” but confirmed he heard the gunshots come from the passenger side of the police car, where the officer who shot Muskego had been. The partner officer told investigators the entire incident took about 10 seconds to unfold, suggesting Muskego moved toward them within seconds of their arrival. According to the report, surveillance video footage shows Muskego reaching into a pocket or waistband, shuffling his feet down a ramp toward police and picking up speed, with a knife in his hand as he passes the police car. The actual shooting was out of the camera’s view, the report said. One civilian witness, who was interviewed nearly six weeks after the shooting, told investigators they were having a cigarette near the scene when they heard vehicles pull up and voices yelling at somebody to stop before two gunshots shortly after, the investigation unit’s report said.The witness went into their home and from the window, could see officers giving CPR to a person on the ground. The witness heard someone say “he’s gone,” before an ambulance arrived, the report said. The report includes a photo of the knife Muskego carried, showing it to be a roughly 30-centimetre-long bread knife, with a roughly 20-centimetre serrated blade.The police watchdog is not recommending charges against the officer, since after reviewing the evidence, Sychuk wrote he is “of the opinion the actions of the subject officer were reasonable, under these tragic circumstances.”The case is now considered complete and has been closed, the report says.
No charges recommended for officer who shot Norway House Cree Nation teen: police watchdog
