EDMONTON -- The shooting of a man in rural, central Alberta has prompted an investigation by the province’s police watchdog.
The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team confirmed Sunday evening it had been directed to look into an RCMP-involved shooting near Hardisty which left one man with serious injuries.
Hardisty is located off Highway 13, about 200 kilometres southeast of Edmonton.
According to Killam RCMP, officers used their weapons in a confrontation after a police pursuit near the town around 5:20 p.m..
"RCMP were pursuing a suspect vehicle on Highway 13 near Hardisty. The vehicle was believed to be the same vehicle involved in an earlier incident with the Killam RCMP," a statement from the detachment read.
"Several tire deflation devices were used in an attempt to stop the vehicle. The vehicle went into the ditch and a male got out of the vehicle. The confrontation followed."
Earlier in the day, Killam RCMP asked the public for help in identifying a truck that was used to ram into a police vehicle multiple times during an attempted traffic stop. That suspect vehicle was described as a dark coloured Dodge Ram 2500 or 3500.
Blake Moser, the president of a local crime watch group, told CTV News Edmonton he watched and recorded RCMP chase a truck of a similar discription on Highway 13 near Amisk, about 20 kilometres away from Hardisty.
Police said the man who was shot was the only person in the truck during the incident at Hardisty. RCMP members were not injured.
The Director of Law Enforcement has been notified and ASIRT will be investigating.
A section of the highway, south of Highway 881 to Range Road 100 A was closed at 6:30 p.m.
STARS Air Ambulance was called to the area for an inter-hospital transfer.
