Two Edmonton police officers fatally shot while responding to family dispute: chief

EDMONTON-Two Edmonton police officers are dead after responding to a family dispute call at an apartment building, where they were shot by a male suspect who later turned a gun on himself, Edmonton police Chief Dale McFee told media Thursday morning.

The two officers didn't have an opportunity to use their own weapons in the incident that took place shortly after midnight, and while their colleagues rushed them to hospital - and tried valiantly" to save them on the way, McFee said - they were declared dead at the hospital.

I can't tell you how devastated we are by their loss," a sombre-looking McFee said, standing at a podium at police headquarters in downtown Edmonton.

The officers were identified as constables Travis Jordan, 35 and Brett Ryan, 30. Ryan had five and a half years of service, while Jordan had been serving for eight and a half years. The suspect in the shooting died from an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said.

Their bodies were in the process of being escorted to the medical examiner's office that morning, McFee said.

A female from the suite where the incident happened was taken to hospital and is in stable condition.

The two deaths brings the number of officers killed in the line of duty in this country since 2019 to 13, according to the Canadian Police Association. Responding to a domestic dispute is the second most deadly set of circumstances for officers, according to an analysis of police deaths up until 2009 conducted by Statistics Canada. The only riskier activity is investigating robberies.

It's the first police death to hit the Alberta capital since 35-year-old hate crimes investigator Constable Daniel Woodall was shot and killed while trying to arrest a suspect for criminal harassment in 2015.

Local residents say they saw significant police activity overnight, including the arrival of a few dozen officers in Inglewood, a neighbourhood of three-storey walk-ups in the city's northeast, in the early hours Thursday. The police presence continued as the sun rose and, by 9 a.m., officers were still stringing up police tape as they cordoned off several areas, police vehicles, including two black trucks, lined the streets.

The incident has shaken the neighbourhood. One local resident said he'd seen about a dozen officers bolting from an apartment complex near his own around 3 a.m. I've never seen anything like it," he said. It's not been a very good night."

One apartment building's door had a smashed window, while a forensics truck sat parked nearby. Robert Tate, whose apartment is on the ground level right next to the door, said he looked out his window around 1:30 a.m. to see a group of officers with their guns drawn, he said.

One then smashed out the back window to his building and ran up the stairs, he said. Later on, said Tate, he watched about six officers bring what appeared to be a body from the apartment building next door. He said he didn't hear any gunshots, but was woken up by the flashing lights and his dogs barking.

Tina Nguyen, owner of a nearby beauty studio, said she noticed police sirens and lights last night around 1 a.m. She thought nothing of it until she woke up and heard two police had been killed.

She said she was saddened to hear of the deaths and it makes her worry for her family's safety. She lives about one block from where police were stationed Thursday morning.

I don't go out, but my kids go to school. We are worried," she said. I don't know what to do now."

Police officers, associations and forces were offering their condolences in the wake of the news.

No words can describe what our members and their families are feeling at this moment," tweeted Staff Sgt. Michael Elliott, the former president of the Edmonton Police Association. Our entire service and community are mourning and I'm devastated."

More to come.