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A Pink Deer man stated he regrets calling RCMP after watching an officer shoot to dying his knife-wielding, mentally-ill son in what he calls a unnecessary killing.
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RCMP say on Thursday afternoon, they responded to a criticism of an individual threatening individuals in a southeast Pink Deer residence with a knife and ended up fatally taking pictures a 33-year-old man with a service pistol “when an altercation occurred between the male and the officers … no officers had been bodily injured throughout this incident”
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The daddy of Derek Deon, who was killed, stated he was shocked and horrified when three RCMP officers entered his residence armed with assault rifles and confronted his son within the youthful man’s basement bed room.
“They got here in and stormed the home, there was no plan,” stated Vernon Deon.
“It was an entire take-down, it was utterly pointless.”
The person stated Derek was in his mattress holding a steak knife and was struck with a Taser when he wouldn’t put the blade down.
His startled son then stumbled up and about and onto one knee on the ground, nonetheless holding the knife when he feared the worst, stated Vernon.
“I informed them, ‘Don’t shoot’ … all of the officer needed to do was again up, he put himself in that place.”
He stated the encounter lasted solely about 30 seconds — his spouse Jane estimating as much as a minute — and ended with Derek being shot thrice by one of many officers.
The officers’ aggressive actions, he stated, escalated a scenario that might have been dealt with extra slowly and calmly.
“What was the push? Simply settle down — it doesn’t make any sense. It’s mistaken … that wasn’t speaking,” stated the dad in an anguished voice.
“They needed to kind it out in 30 seconds after I waited all week (for assist for my son).”
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He stated he and his spouse had been by no means bodily threatened by Derek on the day he died.
Vernon stated the behaviour of his son, who’d been affected by schizophrenic spectrum dysfunction for the previous 5 years, had deteriorated in current months after he’d be off his treatment and he’d been issuing threats in opposition to him and his spouse and neighbours.
Final Sunday and Tuesday, police had attended his residence with Vernon hoping they’d take his son to Pink Deer Hospital on a mental-health warrant, stated the grieving father.
A deliberate name with a psychiatrist by no means materialized, he added.
Vernon stated he’d then gotten a mental-health order for police to make use of signed by a provincial court docket choose on Thursday morning and when Derek verbally threatened his dad and mom once more hours later, the dad stated he known as RCMP, anticipating the criticism would lastly immediate them to take his son to the hospital.
As a substitute, he stated, when the officers arrived, they “got here down like they had been going to struggle.”
“It was utterly totally different from something we’d seen in coping with police on these mental-health points,” he stated.
In earlier situations, RCMP personnel coping with Derek had been a specialised unit augmented with a social employee or mental-health specialist.
However on Thursday when his son was killed, that unit was apparently busy, stated Vernon , who disagreed with the RCMP press launch saying he’d known as with a criticism his son had threatened his dad and mom with a knife.
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And he stated his son was shot with a rifle, not a handgun, which police say was discharged within the incident.
Derek, he stated, was pronounced lifeless on the scene, regardless of the efforts of the RCMP officers to save lots of him, stated his father.
Stated his mom, Jane: “Derek has by no means been an outright violent individual.”
Her son, she stated, had been admitted to hospital for mental-health causes “many instances,” most just lately a couple of 12 months in the past.
Alberta RCMP say they’ll’t remark additional on the incident or on Vernon’s allegations, noting it’s now underneath investigation by the Alberta Severe Incident Response Staff (ASIRT).
“The Alberta RCMP believes in processes that search the info and it’s essential that processes taken to evaluate the actions of all these concerned, together with the police, are honest, clear, and defendable. That is why, as quickly as we turned conscious of this incident, we instantly notified the Director of Regulation Enforcement and initiated our inner evaluation course of,” states the RCMP press launch on the incident.
“The Director of Regulation Enforcement deemed this to be “in scope” and has directed ASIRT to analyze.”
Vernon stated he spoke with ASIRT officers on Thursday following the taking pictures, including he can now solely look forward to the end result of their investigation.
Derek was a extremely inventive individual, who excelled at portray, sculpting, writing and beloved music, stated his father.
However he stated his son has struggled with mental-health points since he was a teen and extra just lately with substance-abuse challenges amid schizophrenia.
“He talked to individuals in his thoughts — he known as them his ghost mates — however he was blissful,” stated Vernon.
“I couldn’t get him the assistance he wanted and I couldn’t get the police to behave.”
Twitter: @BillKaufmannjrn
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