MELVILLE — Two Melville RCMP officers were seriously injured after a firearm was discharged while police responded to a report of an assault, according to RCMP.
The RCMP's Criminal Operations Officer Murray Chamberlin provided an update on the incident at F Division in Regina on Monday morning.
Here is what is known so far, according to Chamberlin's update as well as an RCMP news release:
On Sunday night, June 21 at approximately 9:35 p.m., Melville RCMP received a report of an assault at a residence on 8th Avenue West in Melville.
As officers arrived at the residence, a firearm was discharged and two Melville RCMP officers were struck. Both officers were transported to hospital in Regina by EMS with injuries believed to be serious in nature. An armed individual, believed to be an adult male, remained in the residence.
Officers from Melville RCMP detachment and Saskatchewan RCMP’s Critical Incident Response Team responded immediately. The Critical Incident Response team included the Emergency Response Team, Police Dog Services and the critical incident negotiators from the Crisis Negotiation Team. Officers with the Serious Crimes Unit were also there.
The Government of Saskatchewan’s Protection and Response Team assisted, along with Regina Police Service SWAT officers.
Saskatchewan RCMP said the situation was carefully monitored throughout, including continual assessment of whether a dangerous person alert was required. Ultimately, an alert was not issued as they were confident the suspect was contained to a residence and officers determined there was no elevated risk to public safety.
At approximately 2 a.m., the suspect and another occupant exited the residence. The suspect was arrested and remains in custody.
The other occupant was initially detained but released shortly after, and it has since determined this individual was not involved in the incident.
Saskatchewan RCMP’s Serious Crimes Unit has carriage of the ongoing investigation.
Charges have not been laid at this time. Chamberlin said as such he cannot provide information about the individual who is being arrested.
Investigators do not believe there is any further elevated risk to public safety associated with the incident. If that were to change, the public would be notified immediately.
Chamberlin said he did not have "an additional update right now on the status of our injured officers. Our thoughts are with them, their families and their colleagues."
"This incident is a stark reminder of the danger police officers face everyday. It highlights how unpredictable the work can be and I am proud of the professionalism and courage shown by all of our members last night. They continue to step forward to keep others safe despite knowing the risks. What started off as a report of an assault, something we attend to routinely, ended as a potentially life changing call for two of our officers."
Chamberlin said he "spent last night at the hospital with the officers and their loved ones. I would like to thank the Melville EMS and staff at both Melville and Regina hospitals for caring for our members. We will continue to support our members, their families and the Melville Detachment during this time and we will continue to share public updates as new information arises."
Regarding communication with the public and the flood of rumours floating around, Chamberlin said there "was a lot going on last night" and "this is an emerging event."
"Last night the focus was our members and the apprehension of the suspect and now we can focus on getting proper information accurate information to the public."
As for how many officers responded to the scene, Chamberlin said initial response was "just our two members and obviously after the shooting many members responded including members from surrounding detachments and our critical incident program … I also I didn't mention a thank you to Regina City Police for the use of their SWAT members last night."
He also confirmed there was no police chase in connection to the incident.
Chamberlin said the officers were still receiving ongoing medical care, but it was believed they were in stable condition.
Chamberlin did confirm that the officers were not inside the house when they were shot, based on the information they have right now. He did not have further details, other than the members were approaching the residents and they took incoming gunfire.
There are also no details provided yet on the make of the firearm used in the incident. It is believed the officers did not discharge their firearms.
Many other details about the incident are also unclear at this time, with more details to come.
On how members of the RCMP were feeling after this incident, Chamberlin reiterated that an incident like this "is a stark reminder of the dangers of our job. So our focus today as a division is internal messaging and looking after our members across the province including the members in Melville, Yorkton detachments and the members that responded last night."
When asked if the RCMP in Saskatchewan is seeing an increase of violence against police officers over the last number of years, Chamberlin did not have hard numbers available but said incidents have certainly increased.
As for whether the RCMP might do an internal review of this incident afterwards with a view towards the safety of all of your officers in terms of what could be done to mitigate the risks of the job even further down the road, Chamberlin said that was a two part answer.
The first part is that "yes… on any serious incident we do an internal review we look at the actions of our members our policies is there ways we can do things better."
"But part two of that is unfortunately our job comes with inherent risks and this is a reminder of that."
