Hellbound woman gunned down by Alberta cops. Inquiry and cover up begin in earnest.
"Cop kills woman in standoff
Officer was 'trying to defend his own life,' police say
By Laura Drake and Alexandra Zabjek
January 17, 2010
EDMONTON - Edmonton police shot and killed a woman outside her north-end apartment Saturday, putting an end to a brief, but dramatic standoff that saw her point what looked like a pistol at uniformed officers.
According to numerous witness accounts, the woman, a mother of four, spent the final hour of her life wandering the halls of her apartment building, pointing the weapon at neighbours, police and even friends.
Marilyn Fryingpan, a friend who lives in the building, said the woman was suicidal and suffered severe headaches, a consequence of a car accident. The woman self-medicated with sleeping pills and pain pills, Fryingpan said, and she had been drinking Saturday.
The woman's problems began as a fight with her sons, who had been up all night drinking and being loud, Fryingpan said.
Police were called to the building, at 8411 119th Avenue, just after 2 p.m.
Vernon Grainge, the apartment's caretaker, was outside having a smoke when they arrived. Grainge said the officers told him there was a problem in Suite 13.
"I let them in and they go walking up the stairs," Grainge said. When they reached the second floor landing, a woman Grainge recognized as a tenant appeared one floor above. She pointed what looked like a gun at the officers and they yelled at her to drop it, Grainge said. Instead, she pointed it at Grainge, who was inside the ground floor foyer.
"I was thinking, pull the trigger. Pull the trigger and at least then I'll know if it's real," he said, hours later.
The woman didn't pull the trigger, and Grainge escaped outside.
The chronology of what happened next inside the building is unclear.
Cassandra Littlewolf, who lives on the second floor, saw the two officers run by her apartment at one point, followed by the woman.
The woman also came to Fryingpan's second-floor door.
"She saw me, then pointed the gun at me, so I closed the door," Fryingpan said.
Through her peephole, Fryingpan saw the woman going from suite to suite. "She was just standing in the hallway, going around and round with the gun."
Eventually the woman left the apartment before coming back in again. When she left a second time, Fryingpan's mother, who also lives in the building, was watching.
Freda Fryingpan saw the woman leave the apartment building carrying the weapon. She walked toward a group of officers, some of whom were crouched behind a Dumpster and others gathered near a pole.
Another witness, who wanted to be anonymous, said he saw the woman walk outside carrying a gun into the alley, which was filled with police officers.
"They yelled, 'Drop the gun, drop the gun, drop the gun,' " he said.
The woman appeared unfazed and kept walking toward the officers, he said, raising her arm and holding the gun sideways. The witness ducked and heard two shots.
When he looked up, the officers had surrounded the woman.
"I really feel for those police officers, that's got to be a horrible thing for them to deal with," he said. "They gave her every opportunity."
Clifton Purvis, the executive director of the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team, the provincial body that will conduct the investigation into the woman's death, confirmed that two shots were fired. The woman was hit and received emergency care on the scene, but was pronounced dead in hospital.
At some point during the altercation in the alley, a police officer was bit on the leg by a dog. She received stitches and was released from hospital Saturday night.
Only police officers fired shots during the confrontation, Purvis said, and as of Saturday night, he could not say whether what the woman was carrying was a working firearm.
The officer who shot the woman was an experienced member of the force, said Edmonton Police Association president Sgt. Tony Simioni.
"He is doing as well as can be expected under the circumstances. It's never pleasant to have to go through this, it's not what we sign up for. However, having said that, we are quite confident he did what he was trained to do," Simioni said.
Purvis said he does not know how long the investigation into the shooting will take.
"I can tell you that we are acutely aware that it is everybody's best interest to complete the investigation in a timely fashion," he said. "But we will not cut any corners and our goal is to deliver to the police service and the community a thorough investigation."
Simioni stands behind the members involved, he said he understands there will be public scrutiny of the shooting.
"When we have to take a human life, or when we shoot to take a human life ... the public has a right to know whether it was justified or not and at this stage we're quite confident that it was."
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