SUMMERSIDE, P.E.I. -- An independent police watchdog has been brought in to investigate separate police shootings over the weekend that left two men dead in Nova Scotia and P.E.I.
The Nova Scotia Serious Incident Response Team is looking into the death of a 32-year-old Summerside, P.E.I., man who was shot by officers early Sunday. Summerside police issued a statement saying the man succumbed to injuries after he became violent during an attempt to take him into custody.
Police said they got a 911 call at about 12:30 a.m. Sunday from a woman staying at the Water Street Motel who said four men had forced their way into her room, robbed her and her boyfriend, and that she had been stabbed during the encounter.
She was not seriously injured and was able to identify three of the four suspects.
The statement says the suspects were found at a home about five hours later and that one was shot after allegedly becoming violent during the arrest.
"Once inside the residence, the suspect used violence in resisting the officer's attempts to take him into custody," it states. "During the encounter, two officers discharged their service pistols, injuring the suspect."
Police said they gave him first-aid and transported him to Prince County Hospital for treatment, but he died at about 1 p.m. Police arrested one man and were still looking for two suspects.
In Nova Scotia, the team is also investigating the death of a man who was shot by police in the Halifax area Saturday morning.
The RCMP said Bradley Thomas Clattenburg was killed in the Dartmouth community of Westphal during an altercation with police after he allegedly threatened another man with a weapon.
They said officers had been responding to a weapons complaint at a home shortly before 8 a.m.
RCMP spokeswoman Cpl. Jennifer Clarke said the 24-year-old man had been threatening to shoot another man and fled to a wooded area when police arrived.
She said that while police and an RCMP police service dog were looking for him, the man confronted them and they fired their guns.
Clarke did not say how many officers discharged their weapons or how many shots were fired.
The investigation has been handed over to the team, an agency called in to investigate all serious incidents -- including deaths, serious injuries and allegations of sexual assault -- involving police in Nova Scotia and on occasion other provinces.
Director Felix Cacchione said the agency is encouraging anyone who may have witnessed the incident to come forward.