Mounties cleared in fatal shooting of man in arrest that killed police dog

Jago, a RCMP service dog, was killed in the line of duty near High Prairie, Alta. on June 17, 2021 (Town of High Prairie/Facebook)

The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) has cleared several Mounties who shot at and killed a man in northern Alberta in 2021.

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Police killed Lionel Ernest Grey, 29, of High Prairie on June 18, 2021 after a two-day search that also saw the death of a police dog.

Scene No. 1

A day earlier, an officer attempted to arrest Grey, who was wanted on outstanding warrants, during a traffic stop near High Prairie at 10:30 a.m.

According to ASIRT's report, Grey refused to stop and drove off in a red Cadillac.

Half an hour later police found the Cadillac on a service road off Township Road 770.

Four officers used police vehicles to pin in the Cadillac, which was empty and partially covered with a tarp.

The officers used a police dog named Jago to track Grey.

After two hours of searching, Jago located him in a swampy area of the forest.

Jago's handler commanded the dog to find Grey and yelled to Grey that he was under arrest.

The officers heard gunfire from a high-powered machine gun and heard Jago scream.

Assuming the dog had been shot, Jago's handler drew his gun and approached the area.

He saw Grey with an assault rifle in his hand and commanded him to drop the weapon.

The report says Grey began to run, so the officer fired four to six shots at him.

Grey reportedly raised his weapon, so the officer fired two more times.

Grey then left the scene.

The officer stated he didn't believe any of his shots had hit Grey.

Investigators at the scene later found Jago's body.

ASIRT says the officers believed Grey intended to ambush and kill them, so they took defensive positions.

When one of the officers spotted him a short time later, she fired nine shots and a second officer fired nine to 10 shots at Grey, who moved out of sight.

Scene No. 2

On the morning of June 18, four other officers assembled at the red Cadillac to track Grey using a different police dog.

ASIRT says the RCMP critical incident commander had told the officers that lethal force was to be used on Grey unless he surrendered.

The officers had been travelling through the forest for about an hour when they spotted Grey.

ASIRT says the officers ordered Grey to surrender and when he did not, three of the officers fired at him.

Grey disappeared from sight and police were not sure if they had hit him.

They determined that he had left the immediate area.

Scene No. 3

While officers were searching for Grey at the second scene, the RCMP brought in additional officers to find Grey.

At 11:30 a.m. on June 18, two officers were driving in an unmarked police truck on Range Road 170 when they spotted Grey sitting in a ditch.

The officers stopped the truck and one of the officers pointed his carbine rifle at Grey and yelled for him to stop because he was under arrest.

According to ASIRT, Grey ran into the trees and one of the officers saw him holding what appeared to be a semi-automatic rifle.

Both officers fired at Grey, one with a handgun and one with a carbine rifle.

Grey fell to the ground and said that he had been shot.

Paramedics arrived on scene a short time later and pronounced Grey dead at the scene.

ASIRT says police found a loaded semi-automatic Mossberg .22-calibre rifle a few feet away from his body and a rangefinder in his pocket.

A loaded semi-automatic Mossberg 22-calibre rifle that was found near the body of Lionel Grey. (Source: ASIRT)

In a report released on Wednesday, ASIRT determined that because Grey had fired at the officers and shot and killed a canine officer on June 17 and refused to surrender and picked up a gun on June 18, the officers were justified in using force to protect themselves.

As such, ASIRT found no offences were committed.