Watchdog agency investigating shooting between police, youth in downtown Moncton

Watchdog agency investigating shooting between police, youth in downtown Moncton

RCMP say suspect was taken to hospital, no officers injured

A police watchdog agency is investigating an exchange of gunfire between police and a male youth in downtown Moncton on Thursday morning.

Codiac Regional RCMP say officers were responding to a report of gunshots near St. George Street at 8:08 a.m.

A youth with a firearm in a parking lot near Victoria and Lutz streets shot toward officers, police said in a news release.

Officers returned fire. The youth ran but was arrested nearby and taken to hospital for assessment, police said.

No officers or members of the public were injured.

Gunfire exchanged in downtown Moncton

The Serious Incident Response Team is investigating the shooting. The agency investigates when actions of a police officer may have resulted in a death, serious injury, sexual assault, or intimate partner violence.

Spokesperson Khalehla Perrault Russell said none of the shots police fired hit the youth. The youth's age hasn't been released.

In a statement, Codiac RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Luc Picard said the Mounties referred the matter to the Serious Incident Response Team "for an independent investigation to determine the circumstances surrounding this incident."

Nearby resident Jessy Wallace said he woke to the sound of gunfire and looked out his window overlooking the parking lot behind Our Lady of the Assumption Cathedral to see the unfolding incident.

Video Wallace shared with CBC News shows officers approaching the person crouched near a vehicle with a broken window. A handgun is visible on the ground beside another vehicle with multiple bullet holes.

The person runs north along the cathedral followed by police, and he grabs at his side as popping noises can be heard, before eventually being stopped close to St. George Street.

"I watched [police] drag him back in, watch them cuff him, bring him back into the vehicle after," he said.

Shortly before 9 a.m., CBC News observed more than a dozen officers around the area, surrounded by police tape, between St. George and Victoria streets. A gun on the ground near the two damaged vehicles was later covered with a box.

Picard, the RCMP spokesperson, said police don't believe there is any further risk to the public. The area remained cordoned off Thursday as the investigation continued.

The scene is close to businesses, apartment buildings, daycares and a school.

Stephanie Patterson, a spokesperson for Anglophone East School District, said Edith Cavell School near the scene went into lockdown for about 30 minutes Thursday morning.

Patterson said no other schools were affected.

Roger Cormier also heard the shooting and recorded video of part of the incident showing the suspect running from police.

Cormier was watching police secure the scene as he spoke to CBC News.

"I'm still in shock, more or less more about it than anything I'd say. Like, I don't know, it's pretty close to home. … It was pretty wild."

Shane Magee is a Moncton-based reporter for CBC News.