An RCMP officer who fatally shot a man outside the Fort McMurray airport in 2021 will not face charges, Alberta Serious Incident Response Team has ruled.

In a decision released June 26, the ASIRT found the officer acted lawfully and reasonably under the circumstances. The man, referred to as the affected person (AP), was armed with a knife and had made threats about bombing a plane. He died after being shot multiple times while running toward the airport doors.

RCMP officers were called to the airport early on Oct. 15, 2021, after a taxi driver reported a male passenger holding a knife to his throat. The man reportedly cut himself and made disturbing comments about enjoying explosions and wanting to blow up a plane.

Police spent over 30 minutes trying to de-escalate the situation. They offered the man cigarettes in exchange for the knife and deployed multiple non-lethal weapons, including a beanbag round and two Taser shots. None were effective.

As the man began running toward the terminal with the knife still in hand, one officer fired five rounds from a carbine rifle, striking him in the back, thigh, elbow and buttock. He was treated by EMS at the scene and pronounced dead at hospital.

ASIRT concluded the officer had reasonable grounds to believe the man posed a lethal threat to people inside the airport and acted within his legal authority.

“While the death of [the affected person] is unfortunate, the force used by [the subject officer] was proportionate, necessary and reasonable in all the circumstances,” wrote Executive Director Michael Ewenson, K.C.