Watchdog agency clears Mounties in fatal Deschambault Lake shooting

A Saskatchewan police watchdog agency says two RCMP officers should not face charges after shooting and killing a 19-year-old man in Deschambault Lake last year.

This week, the provincial government shared the Saskatchewan Serious Incident Response Team’s (SIRT) final report on the fatal shooting, which took place on Aug. 8, 2025.

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On that day, an off-duty RCMP officer heard a gunshot at around 8 a.m. in the village 450 kilometres northeast of Saskatoon, the report said. The Mountie joined an on-duty officer to investigate. The officers walked through a wooded area until they found a group of people along an embankment.

SIRT said the Mounties believed one of the people along the shore was a gang member who was wanted on warrants.

The report said the two officers approached the group from two angles, but someone noticed them and told the group it was “ride or die time.”

One of the officers drew his gun and told the group not to move, the report said.

The 19-year-old man allegedly rose and ran towards the officer, “dropping to a kneeling position and then rising with a sawed-off rifle in his hands.”

SIRT said the officers shouted at the man to drop the gun, but he pointed the rifle at them.

“Both discharged their service pistols, striking the affected person several times and causing him to fall to the ground,” read the report.

An officer requested help from paramedics, but was told they weren’t available, the report indicated. A Mountie who previously served as a paramedic tried to apply pressure to the injured man’s wounds, but declared him dead shortly after, SIRT said.

The investigation found no video evidence existed, and instead relied on interviews with witnesses and the officers, SIRT said.

SIRT said the Deschambault Lake RCMP detachment was not given body cameras before the date of the shooting. One officer was wearing a privately purchased camera at the time of the shooting, the report said, but did not turn it on until after the shots were fired.

SIRT found the officers’ use of force fell within the range protected by law, and said it doesn’t believe any offence was committed.

Neither the officers nor the victim were named in the SIRT report.