Calgary first city to have an actual GTA IV carjacking spree

May 26, 2008

It's not a good feeling, to want someone shot by police.

But yesterday, in the midst of what may have been the most dangerous car chase to ever involve Calgary cops, there seemed no other way to safely stop the suspect in a frightening series of carjackings.

The suspect allegedly stole six cars, threatening drivers by holding a pistol point-blank in their faces.

There are reports one shot was fired by the carjacker, but no one hit.

When the suspect was finally stopped, after a horrifying high-speed chase through a southeast neighbourhood, he had a second person with him -- a possible hostage.

Both the suspect and victim left the crash scene in an ambulance, badly bleeding, with the suspect in serious condition.

The stolen car had smashed into a pole outside a school, after its driver lost control with police in hot pursuit.

At an intersection some distance away, two more patients were treated by paramedics.

Vehicles were allegedly rammed as the suspect fled from police, and people were apparently hurt.

It's that unfortunate fact that will now haunt police, as they try to explain why a dangerous car chase through busy streets wasn't called off.

That it ended near a school will compound the criticism -- what if the car had veered into a playground instead of a pole?

The HAWCS police helicopter was grounded because if rain and cloud.

Police would normally call off a chase before it threatened civilians -- but yesterday was anything but normal.

It's likely an inquiry will be called, and until police officially explain their actions, it's all a guess.
But to be a police commander during yesterday's chase was to be damned, no matter what the decision.

A suspect waving a gun inches from people's noses is a potential killer, and it wouldn't take much for a bullet to be fired into someone's face.

A driver who refused to hand over his car to the desperate gunman would likely end up dead.

For police, there was also no way to know why the suspect was on the run, or to what lengths he might go to avoid being caught.

He seemed unwilling to hide -- police lost the suspect a few times during the cross-city hunt, and the suspect always reappeared, after stealing another car.

Was he trying to be caught, or just too frantic to lay low?

In any case, not stopping the suspect would likely result in tragedy.
The truth awaits an inquiry, but that's probably why the chase wasn't immediately called off.

Had police been given a clear opportunity to use lethal force to stop the gunman, it's likely they would have.

And no one would have blamed them -- but that chance never came.

After two hours of cross-city hunting, officers patrolling near Marlborough spotted the suspect driving with a passenger.

A chase ensued -- the suspect driving on the wrong side of the road and burning through intersections in a bid to escape.

The risk of someone being seriously hurt or killed was high -- but not as high as an innocent victim being shot and killed if the suspect wasn't stopped.

And that was the decision left to police commanders, as they listened to their officers chasing the suspect over the police radio.

You can only imagine their cringing as they allowed the chase to continue, knowing someone could end up seriously hurt or worse.

And then their immense relief as the suspect lost control, hitting the pole and ending the drama.

There will be plenty of questions in the coming days and no easy answers as to whether the police decision was the right one.

But in the end, a dangerous situation was stopped, and the potential for greater tragedy averted.

And that's the only conclusion anyone could have hoped for.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Calgary
• first
• city
• Grand
• Theft
• Auto
• GTA
• IV
• carjacking
• spree
• Alberta
• advantage
• news

[krzyboi69]

Where does gta iv come into this?

[pater429]

hes with bubba now....

[orygunner1]

@jsuds12 Wrong. Columbia and 6 OTHER countries in the world have higher rates of firearm-related homicide than the United States. They all have far lower gun ownership rates and much stricter gun control.

Gun control DOES NOT WORK.

And at least I'm freer than you. :)

[jsuds12]

@orygunner1 You have no fucking idea what your talking about you american loser, Ya your country is so safe, you have more gun violence then Columbia. I would love to see you have a gun pointed at your face then try to reach for your own hand gun faster then he can pull the trigger. American fucking loser, you should really worry more about your countries fucked gun laws, your "patriot act" the massive debt that you will never be out of, and the housing crash. ENJOY YOUR BURGER YOU FAT FUCK.

[xbearcanrockx]

No "It's not a good feeling, to want someone shot by police. " but when you've ever had the misfortune of dating some extremely disturbed individual who mentally, emotionally, physically abused you in every way, shape and form and even tried to kill you 3 times, raped you 10 times and tried to burn you with a lighter... then well.. iyeah.. that's a different story.

[xbearcanrockx]

wow that is disturbing, he must be like a ninja or just an extremely psychotic person, he's jumping all over the place for victims. probably attacking at random so it's harder to ID them. damn tool -_-;

I find it pathetic how they always assume there has to be drugs or alcohol involved. I guess it's because you wouldn't engage in that type of behavior in your sane mind. But still, is there not a possibility that the individuals just ARE messed up?

[noctourn1716]

This is relative to GTA IV cuz of a carjacking spree - obviously - but we have ppl so stupid here that they think they can get away with this - carjackers = stupidest ppl alive - surprising he could figure out wich pedal is the gas

[demtpd]

wtf i got caought for this type of shit and they never said nothing bout it being a gta 4 type thing wow retartds

[lolag3r3r]

@SuctionTesticleMan HAHAHAHAH yeah... a lotta coincidence don'tcha think? XD

[deadspace6000]

to much gta4

[dafuksup]

@mystrownedu3 calgary aint gangsta they all a buncha pussys