Police interview a witness following a standoff that ended with police shooting the hostage taker. (CBC)The man shot and killed by a Calgary police officer ending a two-hour standoff has been identified as Melvin Donald Vanhouwe.
The 49-year-old was identified on Monday by Clifton Purvis, director of the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team, which looks into most deaths and serious complaints in the province involving police officers.
The shooting happened early Sunday morning in the community of Southwood.
Calgary police responded to a complaint at about 12:50 a.m. at the 500 block of Sabrina Road S.W. that a man with a sawed-off shotgun was holding his 19-year-old neighbour hostage.
Purvis said an officer shot Vanhouwe three times from about six metres away after he raised the shotgun and pointed it at two officers at 1:57 a.m. The hostage was unharmed, he added.
No officers were injured but Vanhouwe died in hospital.
Neighbours describe strange behaviour
Neighbours said tempers started flaring earlier Saturday night when Vanhouwe was drinking and appeared to be looking for a fight.
A next door neighbour, who would only identify himself as Jesse, said earlier in the night Vanhouwe accused him of stealing a part from his guitar that he had fixed months earlier for free.
"He threatened with kicking someone's ass, me and my neighbour, both of ours. That he was going to come over and kick our ass," he said. "I just thought he had probably been drinking. I just ignored it."
Witnesses said Vanhouwe later walked over to a house across the street with a sawed-off shotgun and took a 19-year-old man hostage. The father of the young man, who escaped unhurt, said his son is relieved with how things turned out.
"I am glad it was the other guy and not my kid," the man said.
On Sunday, Calgary police Chief Rick Hanson said the officer who shot and killed Vanhouwe had no other choice. The veteran officer who fired the fatal shots is a member of the tactical team and has about 20 years on the job, Hanson said.
"When confronted with a shotgun and the decision is made to shoot, you had better be very accurate in how you shoot because a wounded person with a shotgun is deadly," Hanson said.
