The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) continues to seek witnesses to an officer-involved shooting that resulted in the death of a 37-year-old man in Red Deer on Christmas Day.

ASIRT investigators are asking anyone who was in the area of Township Road 391 and Range Road 273 at about 1:15 p.m. on Dec. 25th and who may have seen the confrontation between the police and the man to contact ASIRT. Witnesses are asked to contact ASIRT at 403-592-4306.

As of press time, there were no further updates in the case other than officials re-emphasizing the need for witnesses and those with information to contact authorities.

On Christmas day, Red Deer RCMP began investigating an incident of “intimate partner violence” involving allegations of very serious criminal offences, according to a press release.

The male suspect had been identified, and police were attempting to locate the man.

At about 11:35 a.m., police located him in a stolen vehicle in Sylvan Lake.

While police attempted to stop the vehicle, the man reversed the vehicle into a marked police vehicle, disabling it. The man then fled the scene in the vehicle.

At approximately 1:05 p.m., Red Deer RCMP were patrolling an industrial area in north Red Deer when they located the stolen vehicle and saw a man near a front end loader.

The man entered the front end loader and drove through the fence onto Hwy. 11A and into an adjoining lot.

The loader collided with multiple vehicles causing extensive damage.

Additional RCMP officers were called into the area to attempt to contain the man in the front end loader.

The man drove the front end loader away from the industrial area with police following it. He then drove the front end loader north and then east into a field.

As officers followed, at some point the front end loader collided with a police vehicle.

The officer in this vehicle exited it and fired several shots.

A second officer on scene also fired several shots. The front end loader proceeded into a field and began to move in circles.

Other RCMP members who followed the front end loader into the field were able to get close enough to see the man slumped over in the seat and no longer controlling the front end loader, according to the release.

The front end loader continued into a wooded area and travelled for approximately 800 metres until it became lodged against a tree.

Police then climbed into the front end loader and turned it off. The man was unresponsive and bleeding in the driver’s seat of the front end loader. Emergency Medical Services were called in but determined the man to be deceased at the scene.

The man was a 37-year-old resident of Red Deer and was known to police.

The RCMP continue to investigate the earlier incidents while ASIRT focuses its investigation on the circumstances surrounding the RCMP officer-involved shooting.

Again, investigators are asking anyone who was in the area of Township Road 391 and Range Road 273 at approximately 1:15 pm that day and who may have seen the confrontation to contact ASIRT at 403-592-4306.

Meanwhile, the Red Deer RCMP and RCMP Serious Crimes Branch (south) continue their investigation into the death of a person found deceased in downtown Red Deer near 50th St. and 50th Ave. early Christmas morning.

Investigators have identified the deceased as 46-year-old Thomas Patrick Braconnier from the Red Deer area.

The RCMP believes his death is as a result of foul play, and an autopsy has been scheduled for Dec. 28th at the Office of the Medical Examiner in Calgary to determine the cause of death.

Further information regarding the case wasn’t expected to released by press time, officials said.

– Weber