Deputy Chief of Edmonton Police Service Kevin Brezinski said police received two calls of a driver they believed to be impaired. Both the suspect and the officer got out of their vehicles.
A six-year veteran of the force pulled over the vehicle at 1:43 p.m.
“Once the vehicle was stopped, the police officer and the driver of the vehicle both exited their vehicles. An encounter occurred between the officer and the driver, which resulted in the officer discharging his firearm, striking the male,” said Brezinski. “The suspect was pronounced dead at the scene.”
Emergency crews tried to save the man’s life but he died on scene.
Aman Jaggi, witness of the aftermath of the shooting, said the officer told him he was walking backward from the driver, who was armed with a knife, when he slipped and fell on the ice. The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team says a large hunting knife was found near a man fatally shot by police.
The suspect was identified as a Vitaliy Savin. He worked for more than eight years in Edmonton as a drill operator. Prior to moving to Edmonton, he worked as a mining engineer in Russia.
Savin was a big fan of Vladimir Putin. On his Facebook profile he published posts in which supported Russian aggression in Crimea and Eastern Ukraine, blamed the USA and the Great Britain.
Half an hour before accident Savin published his last post: “Russia will defeat everybody!”
See also: Hybrid technology of ethnic pressures: instrument of the Russian geostrategy
11 March 2017
Stupid, dead katsap living in a city with large Ukrainian-Canadian population. Edmonton Police Service … good job!
12 March 2017
Я знав його. Якось чуть до бійки не дійшло. Земля йому бетоном!
12 March 2017
“Russia will defeat everybody!” Seems god has other plans.
13 March 2017
Most russians , who came to Canada after 90’s, because Russia was bad for them and left matuskhka Rossia, but I observed most russki living in canada love putin. hey, if you love putin, go back to Russki land and a lot of empty spots there.