Onoway residents have been left reeling after two RCMP officers shot and killed a man during a domestic disturbance shortly after 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 11.
Witnesses and neighbours are identifying the deceased as 49-year-old Darby Mohan, but RCMP and the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) have not officially released the man’s name.
RCMP officers from the Stony Plain detachment responded to a domestic disturbance in an apartment building across from the two schools in the community at around 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
When they arrived, they were confronted by a man with an edged weapon, said Sgt. Tim Taniguchi.
During the encounter, the man was shot and killed, he said. The officers were not injured in the incident.
A machete and a knife were recovered from the scene, but ASIRT executive director Clif Purvis would not say whether the man had been holding them when he was shot. No further information about the Mounties involved has been released, other that they were both male and one had been an officer for about three years.
According to witnesses, an argument started at around 6:30 p.m. in a first-floor apartment between the man and his daughter’s boyfriend. Neighbours tried to talk the man into leaving the apartment, but ended up calling police when he refused to leave.
Once the Mounties arrived, it was only a matter of minutes before the officers fired on the man.
Several neighbours said police activity at the apartment building is not an uncommon occurrence, but became aware something significant had happened when nearly 20 police cars surrounded the building after the shooting.
As is the case in all incidents involving police actions that lead to serious injuries or deaths, the investigation into what happened has been turned over to ASIRT.
An autopsy was scheduled for Jan. 13.
