Yukon RCMP officer cleared in 2022 fatal shooting at Whitehorse airport

Independent investigators have cleared a Yukon police officer in a 2022 fatal shooting of a man who was threatening others with a rifle.

In a report released by the civilian-led Alberta Serious Incident Response Team, which has an agreement to investigate such incidents in the Yukon, investigators said an officer who shot the man at Erik Nielsen Whitehorse International Airport was “acting properly in the execution of his duties.”

The shooting happened on Nov. 24, 2022, when a man with a rifle followed an airline employee past a security gate at the airport, pointed the gun at another person and pulled the trigger.

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The rifle did not fire, and the man pointed the rifle at his own chin and pulled the trigger, again it failed to fire a shot.

The report said the suspect then attacked a tractor driver, punching him and hitting the man with the rifle before following the driver into a hangar and firing at least one round into the air.

It said when RCMP then arrived on the scene the suspect ignored orders to stop and drop the weapon, then told police to shoot him before one officer fired two shots, killing the man.

Under the Criminal Code “a police officer is justified in doing what he or she is authorized to do and to use as much force as is reasonably necessary where he or she has reasonable grounds to do so,” Michael Ewenson, executive director of the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team, said in the report.

“Force intended to cause death or grievous bodily harm is justified if the officer believes, on reasonable grounds, that the force was necessary to prevent the death or grievous bodily harm of the officer and/or any other person.”