SaskatchewanAn RCMP officer who shot and killed a man at Red Earth Cree Nation two years ago acted within the law, according to a report released by the province’s Serious Incident Response Team on Thursday. Officer killed 25-year-old man in December 2023, after shot fired at RCMP vehicleHannah Spray · CBC News · Posted: Nov 13, 2025 4:22 PM EST | Last Updated: 2 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 3 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.The Saskatchewan Serious Incident Response Team has concluded its investigation into a police shooting at Red Earth Cree Nation on Dec. 19, 2023. (CBC)An RCMP officer who shot and killed a man at Red Earth Cree Nation two years ago acted within the law.That’s the conclusion of the province’s Serious Incident Response Team (SIRT), which released its report into the shooting on Thursday.The mandate of the police oversight body includes investigating any cases where death happens as a result of the actions of police officers.SIRT’s report says officers were responding to reports of gunshots at Red Earth Cree Nation, about 290 kilometres northeast of Saskatoon, on the morning of Dec. 19, 2023.RCMP officers from Carrot River and Nipawin responded, as well as a member of the provincial protective services branch. As they investigated, one of the RCMP vehicles was hit by a gunshot, causing minor injuries to one of the officers.The report said police sought cover, and one officer saw a man with a long-barreled firearm, which turned out to be a Winchester 12-gauge shotgun, walk to another area, where they heard the sound of another gunshot a short time later.”An RCMP member deployed a drone and observed the affected person lying face down in the area between the baseball diamond and the rink, with blood around him and a long-barreled firearm beside him, having sustained a non-fatal self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head,” the report said.Then the man got up, retrieved his shotgun and walked toward police, the report said.An officer used a loudspeaker to tell the man to stop, but he continued to walk toward police. When he raised his gun, an officer “discharged several rounds from his carbine” and the man fell down, the report said.The man then reached for his gun, and the officer fired a second round of shots, the report said.The man died.His name, and the name of the RCMP officer who fired at him, were not included in the SIRT report.No charges laidSIRT said its investigation included interviewing all relevant police and civilian witnesses, listening to RCMP radio communications and calls for service, and reviewing video footage from police vehicles, a local business and the dead man’s phone.An autopsy determined the man died of blood loss due to the shotgun wound to the head and “multiple gunshot wounds to the body.” Toxicology results showed the presence of THC and methamphetamine in his blood, with the meth levels “falling within the range which could have contributed to intoxication.”SIRT concluded that the totality of the man’s actions “created an objectively reasonable perception of a risk of death or grievous bodily harm” to the officers and “required immediate action to address that risk.” The officer’s use of force — namely, the shots fired — “falls within the range protected by law, and provides no reasonable grounds to believe that an offence was committed by any police officer,” the report said. As a result, “no charges will be laid.”ABOUT THE AUTHORHannah Spray is a reporter and editor for CBC Saskatoon. She began her journalism career in newspapers, first in her hometown of Meadow Lake, Sask., moving on to Fort St. John, B.C., and then to the Saskatoon StarPhoenix.
Police watchdog clears Sask. RCMP officer in fatal shooting at Red Earth Cree Nation
