CALGARY — A Calgary police officer was shot twice after a routine traffic stop in the southwest community of Spruce Cliff near Edworthy Park turned into a shootout.At approximately 11:45 a.m. Monday, police officers were conducting a traffic stop involving a black truck when the occupant of the vehicle fired shots, striking one of the officers.The suspect — who was known to police as an organized-crime target — then fled the vehicle on foot into Edworthy Park and toward the Bow River, during which he continued to actively shoot at pursuers and nearby civilians with a handgun. Police say the suspect then carjacked an individual and drove through the park until the vehicle became stuck, at which point he fled on foot.He was found dead by the river from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.However, Calgary Police Insp. Darren Smith told reporters Monday afternoon that CPS has still not ruled out whether the shooter had also been hit by one of the officers.The suspect’s name has not yet been released..The wounded officer received immediate assistance from his partner before being transported to hospital, where he remains in stable condition.Police expect the officer to make a full recovery, with CPS Chief Katie McLellan saying she visited the officer and his wife in hospital and that he was alert and communicating with colleagues.“Policing is an inherently unpredictable profession and is becoming more violent on a daily basis,” McLellan said, pointing to increasingly violent situations officers are encountering.“Unfortunately, this is the new normal.”Smith added there was nothing about the traffic stop to indicate officers were encountering a high-risk suspect.“This was a random traffic stop,” Smith said, adding the suspect’s truck wasn’t stolen and that the reason for the stop is still being investigated.Once the suspect fled deeper into the park, the CPS HAWCS helicopter quickly located him from the air and attempted to maintain visual contact as officers converged on the park after a major crime response protocol had been activated, with more than 100 CPS members ultimately involved in the response.Police said the suspect opened fire at officers on multiple occasions as they pursued him through the park, with officers returning fire.McLellan said the gunman also fired at a police helicopter during the incident..One witness, Karen Hrncirik, stated she was crossing a bridge in the park and preparing to go into a wooded area when she noticed a police helicopter circling directly overhead.“I had this feeling they're telling me not to go in the woods, so I circled back,” Hrncirik said in a video posted to Facebook, adding that when she turned around, she encountered three police officers behind a cement pillar near the railroad tracks.The officers began moving and ordered her to get behind a vehicle.“They said, ‘Get behind a car. Get behind your car,’ and I'm like, ‘My car's not there.’ So we ran and then ducked behind the cars and then they're shooting,” Hrncirik said.The witness recounted how she had watched officers advance along the railway area while exchanging gunfire with an unidentified person.Hrncirik attempted to escape by heading up a hill, believing higher ground would be safer, but said gunfire then came toward her from that direction.“Someone shot back down at us,” she said.She retreated and began moving behind trees for protection before encountering other people caught in the area.“I said, ‘We need to, like, get low,’” she said..Hrncirik said officers subsequently moved in another direction and she saw police deploy what appeared to be spike strips across the railway tracks.Concerned that the gunman could potentially move around their position, she told the other people with her to climb the hill and get out of the area.“We’re sitting ducks here,” Hrncirik said, adding that they eventually made it to the top of the hill and escaped the immediate scene.Asked how many gunshots she heard, the witness said there were “a lot.”“There were at least three when I was running this way, and they were firing probably three or four,” she said.The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) is now investigating the incident, including officers discharging their firearms, as well as the circumstances surrounding the initial traffic stop and the suspect's death.Smith said the park would remain closed for a “significant period of time” while the investigation remains ongoing.
