SUMMERSIDE – Two police officers are on administrative leave following a fatal officer involved shooting that took place on Sunday.
The officers, who have not been identified, are on leave for an uncertain amount of time, said Corporal Jason Blacquiere of the Summerside Police Service.
Blacquiere, who has been with the force for about 20 years, says there have been previous officer involved incidences, but at there haven’t been any since before he joined the department.
“I know there have been some in the past, but not any for well over 20 years.”
Counselling has been made available to the officers involved in the shooting and other officers in the department.
“It certainly shakes everybody. No one wants to be, as a police officer, in that position. Now there’s a family that is grieving the loss of a family member, so we have to be mindful of that. And there's also the emotional baggage that goes along with our officers involved in the actual incident, which has a huge impact on them as well.”
The shooting, which took place early Sunday morning, followed a report of a break-and-enter in at a Water Street motel where four men forcefully entered a room, robbed a man and woman and stabbed the woman.
Police later located two of the suspects at a Duke Street residence. One suspect was apprehended without incident, the second, a 32-year-old Summerside man named Jeremy Stephens, “used violence” in resisting arrest leading two officers to discharge their service weapons, according to a press release.
Summerside police are still investigating the break-and-enter and robbery. One more arrest has been made in the case, and police are still looking to locate the fourth suspect.
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Nova Scotia’s Serious Incident Response Team has launched an investigation into the officer involved shooting.
Felix Cacchione, the director of SIRT, says the investigation is in its infancy, and the team is being assisted by the RCMP “L” division and RCMP Major Crimes.
“Our investigator is on scene and they are in the process of obtaining search warrants to enter the premises and conduct two investigations. One in respect to what happened at the motel which led up to the confrontation at Duke Street. And secondly, and more importantly from our perspective, the circumstances surrounding the discharge of firearms.”
Under the warrant in regard to the events that happened at the motel, Cacchione says officers would be looking for anything that was taken or related to a robbery.
“The second warrant would be in respect to the shooting. And they would be looking at bullet casings, weapons that were on scene, trace evidence and radio communications between dispatchers and the officers on scene. It will be an all-encompassing investigation. We want to make sure there was no wrong doing.
Cacchione says the investigation will take some time.
“There will be a number of police officers to interview, a number of civilian witnesses and the other suspects involved.”
An autopsy has been conducted on Stephens, but Cacchione could not provide further details.
“We’re waiting to hear how many times he had been struck.”
Cacchione says, to his knowledge, SIRT hasn’t investigated an incident like this in Summerside before.
“In my review of all of the files that have been opened in this office we have never had a fatality involving the police in P.E.I.”
SIRT is also investigating a fatal officer involved shooting that took place over the weekend near Dartmouth, N.S.
UPDATE:
Third suspect in robbery arrested by Summerside Police
The third of four robbery suspects believed to be involved in a break-and-enter early Sunday morning has been arrested by Summerside Police Services.
Thirty-four-year-old Aaron Christopher Prichard was arrested late Sunday afternoon in Summerside.
He appeared in court Monday morning to answer to charges including robbery, assault with a weapon and possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose.
He was remanded to custody.
A second suspect, 26-year-old Conjie Tan of Summerside, appeared in court Sunday and was charged with robbery. He was also remanded into custody.
Police are still actively searching for a fourth and final suspect involved in the break-and-enter.
