The family of a man who was shot and killed by a Calgary police officer last year says the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team has recommended charges and passed the case on to the Crown prosecutor.
Anthony Heffernan, 27, was killed in a northeast hotel room in March of 2015 after police entered his room when he failed to check out.
Heffernan was tasered and fatality shot in the incident and his family has been questioning the circumstancing surrounding his death ever since.
They say they are hopeful now that ASIRT has recommended criminal charges in the case.
“It was a huge relief, we were very nervous from the start that we would never get justice for Anthony, so it's the first step right?” said Grant Heffernan, Anthony’s brother.
ASIRT would only say that it has almost completed its investigation and has handed it to the Crown for review.
“ASIRT has sought an opinion on the viability of any possible criminal prosecution, the reasonable likelihood of conviction and what, if any, charges are recommended,” it said.
The Calgary Police Association says ASIRT doesn't normally release details of its investigations, while the Crown prosecutor is still reviewing the file.
“The Crown prosecutor's office would have to believe that a criminal offence took place and that there's a reasonable likelihood of conviction or they're not going to proceed with it,” said Howard Burns from the Calgary Police Association.
The officer involved fired four shots and was pulled off duty for at least a one month following the incident.
He was back on the beat in January when he was involved in the shooting death of another man in the Huntington Hills area.
“Ultimately that decision is up to the chief of police but he would have looked at that and given it a thoughtful approach and he decided that officer could return to work and unfortunately lightning struck twice and he was involved in a second incident,” said Howard.
A Calgary police officer has never faced criminal charges for deadly use of force and Heffernan's family hopes this time will be different.
“For five officers to go in there and bring him out in a body bag is completely unacceptable and there's got to be accountability,” said Grant.
The Heffernan family says they expect to hear the final decision by May.
No decision has been made as to whether the officer will be charged with a criminal offence and ASIRT says the file has been forwarded to the Crown for an opinion on the matter.
Click HERE to see ASIRT’s release regarding the case.
