Joe Paraskevas, Canwest News Service Published:
National Post
The
Craig McDougall died after being shot during an early morning incident with police at a house the city's
McDougall is the nephew of native leader J.J. Harper, who was fatally shot by police in March 1988.
``All I did is basically told them the very basic information that we knew at the time,'' said McCaskill. He called the shooting ``a tragic event.''
According to police reports, officers were called about a disturbance and shot a man ``brandishing a knife'' after attempts to subdue him with a Taser failed.
A family spokesman said the family's version of what occurred is ``... entirely different from what the police are saying,'' he said.
Hours after McDougall died, McCaskill phoned Ron Evans, who is running for re-election as grand chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs.
``He gave me just a 'what-happened' on Saturday,'' Evans said, adding he referred McCaskill to acting
``I'm trying to build relationships with all communities,'' McCaskill said. ``It's important to leaders of the communities to explain to them what happened. I think it's important to bridge that gap as much as possible, and with all groups.''
A police investigation into the shooting was in its early stages, McCaskill added.
McCaskill's efforts are in stark contrast to those of Herb Stephen who, as the city's police chief in 1988, exonerated his department of wrongdoing one day after Harper's shooting and announced no charges would be laid against Robert Cross, the officer involved.
``I believe it's getting better but we've got a ways to go, there's no doubt about it,'' McCaskill said, when asked about the ongoing relationship between aboriginals and the city's police.
McCaskill called Metis leaders after Michael Langan, a Metis teen, died after being shot with a Taser by a police officer.
On the weekend, some of McDougall's friends indicated through messages to an Internet site they believed he was actually holding a cellphone and not a knife when he confronted police officers outside the home.
The mother of McDougall's girlfriend said McDougall was on the phone speaking to her daughter when the incident took place.
``Why they shot him was wrong, that's all we have to say for now,'' Cheyenne Parisian said.
Parisian said McDougall was a soft-spoken and caring man who had recently begun attending aboriginal ceremonies and sweat lodges, the aboriginal saunas often used for prayer.