上周日，卡尔加里警方在一起人质挟持事件中，击毙了一名手持武器与警方对峙的歹徒。随后警方对案件进行了深入的调查。在对歹徒的居住地进行仔细搜查后，警方在其寓所发现了一个包括来复枪、炸药等违禁枪支在内的私藏武器库，武器种类之全，数量之多，令人咂舌。
周日被击毙的歹徒名叫Vanhouwe，今年49岁，在一家杂货店工作。有过诸多犯罪前科，曾因携带毒品被判20个月监禁，因对公共安全构成威胁而被列入警方24小时监督的名单，并且不允许其携带及拥有枪支和爆炸性物品。所以在其寓所发现的武器库引起了警方的高度重视，警方将彻查这批武器的来龙去脉，以确保没有潜在的安全隐患。
另外，ASIRT(阿尔伯塔独立调查局)也开始了针对挟持事件中警方开枪详细情况的调查。这已经是卡尔加里今年内发生的第二起警员执勤过程中开枪击毙歹徒的事件。调查将广泛采证，包括各种官方和非官方的录像带，目击证人闻讯以及案件当事人19岁的人质的口供问讯。
目前，警方初步掌握的线索证明，案件发生时Vanhouwe的举止十分怪异，情绪也十分不稳定。挟持一名人质，在6米左右的距离与警方对峙。警方共发射三枪，但并不确定是否都打中歹徒。警方将中弹歹徒随即送往医院，之后因救治无效在2：34分宣布死亡。
CALGARY – A man armed with a loaded sawed-off shotgun who held Calgary police in a standoff before he was shot and killed early Sunday morning had earlier been ruled not a danger to the public by a judge who gave him a conditional sentence on drug charges.
Melvin Donald Vanhouwe, 49, had been handed the 20-month sentence – 10 months of which he served under 24-hour house arrest – after he was convicted of cocaine trafficking in 2003, according to court documents obtained by the Calgary Herald. A judge also slapped him with a 10-year prohibition from owning firearms, ammunition and explosive substances.
But, as new details of the deadly standoff emerged Monday, police also revealed they seized ammunition and 13 long guns – including a loaded rifle – as well as various explosives, including devices designed to stun through loud noises, from Vanhouwe’s rented basement suite on Calgary’s Sabrina Bay S.W.
Insp. Guy Slater of the Calgary police major-crimes section said the next step is to determine where the guns came from and to whom they belonged.
What motivated Vanhouwe to take his neighbour hostage has yet to be determined, and it remains unclear what happened before police showed up at the home at 12:50 a.m. local time Sunday.
Vanhouwe, who was reportedly intoxicated and acting bizarrely, had been apparently holding a 19-year-old neighbour hostage when police patrol units arrived, followed by members of the tactical team.
After about an hour, police managed to rescue the teen and get him to safety.
That left the gunman directly facing two officers about six metres away with nothing between them, said Clifton Purvis, head of the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT).
Vanhouwe raised his 12-gauge, sawed-off, pump action shotgun – which had been loaded with two live rounds – pointed it at the two officers, and the tactical team member fired three shots from his C-8 assault rifle.
The gunman was rushed to hospital, but was pronounced dead at 2:34 a.m. from his injuries.
Purvis could not say if all three shots hit Vanhouwe.
Vanhouwe was born in Saskatoon and has two brothers. He had a daughter, but family relations are strained, relatives say.
Police said he had been a Calgary resident for a number of years.
“People don’t know much about his life because he wasn’t around," said Liz Vanhouwe, who is divorced from the man’s uncle.
Vanhouwe’s brother Monte, who lives in Saskatoon, said he was “not interested" in talking about his brother when contacted by a reporter.
Despite Vanhouwe’s troubled past and run-ins with police, news of his death has left relatives bewildered.
“I’m just shaking," said Liz.
Using details from civilian and police witnesses, Purvis said investigators are still trying to put together a picture of what happened.
“Once we’ve put all those pieces together, we should have a fairly good idea of what happened," he said.
Investigators have obtained surveillance video footage from public and private cameras and are interviewing witnesses.
Meanwhile, the police officer who fired the shots is a 27-year veteran with the force with more than a decade of experience on the tactical team. As per the service’s protocol, he has been put on administrative duties.
Purvis said the goal of his team’s investigation is to determine whether the officer’s actions were justified.
“Part of the analysis will be determining what the police officer who shot felt his level of threat was at the time," he said, adding they will then look at the facts to see if that belief was “reasonable."
This is the first time a member of the Calgary police tactical team has been the subject of an ASIRT investigation, though the body has examined incidents involving other tactical teams in the province.
It’s the second time this year, however, that ASIRT has been called to examine a fatal shooting at the hands of a Calgary police officer.
In March, officers fatally wounded Travis Douglas Oakes after he and another man drove a stolen car into a 24-hour car wash. Police had been following the stolen car and were trying to arrest the men when shots were fired by one of the officers.
Calgary Herald
