A woman is dead after a Calgary Police officer shot her during a traffic stop on Deerfoot Trail Sunday afternoon.
Calgary Police received multiple reports of an erratic driver at approximately 4:17 p.m. on June 21. Officers located the vehicle and brought it to a stop on Deerfoot Trail between 16 Avenue and Memorial Drive SE. Police believed the driver was the same person who had been driving erratically and fleeing police repeatedly over the previous 24 hours.
As officers worked to take the driver into custody, a confrontation occurred. Multiple officers used a variety of use-of-force tools. One officer discharged their service firearm. The woman was transported to hospital in life-threatening condition.
On Monday morning, Calgary Police confirmed she had died.
No CPS officers or members of the public were physically injured.
The 24 hours before the shooting
The confrontation on Sunday did not come out of nowhere. Police stated they believed the woman had been driving erratically and fleeing officers for the full 24 hours before the Deerfoot stop meaning officers had already encountered this vehicle and driver at least once before Sunday's fatal confrontation.
Police have not released details about those earlier encounters, where they occurred, or why she was not taken into custody sooner. Those details will become part of the ASIRT investigation. The fact that officers already knew the vehicle and driver going into Sunday's stop is relevant context for understanding how that confrontation unfolded.
What the video shows
Traffic camera footage from the scene shows a large number of emergency vehicles stopped on Deerfoot Trail. Officers can be seen breaking a vehicle window and using a spray can in an attempt to get the driver out of the vehicle.
In a separate video captured by a Global News viewer, multiple officers can be heard ordering the woman to put her hands in the air. In some frames of that video, there appears to be something in the woman's right hand as she advances toward officers.
Calgary Police have not publicly identified the woman. No further details about the confrontation have been released by CPS or ASIRT.
What use-of-force escalation actually looks like
The video shows a clear progression pepper spray, what appears to be a taser, what King described as a bean bag or other projectile, and finally a firearm. Each step represents an escalation when the previous tool failed to stop the subject.
Calgary Police officers are trained under a use-of-force model that permits lethal force only when officers believe a person poses an imminent threat of serious harm to themselves or others and intermediate tools have failed. The question ASIRT will answer is whether that threshold was met whether the officer who fired reasonably believed lethal force was necessary given exactly what they were seeing at that moment.
That judgment was made in seconds. ASIRT's review will take months.
What ASIRT will investigate
ASIRT the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team — is the provincial body that independently investigates incidents involving police that result in serious injury or death. Its involvement is standard procedure and does not constitute a finding of wrongdoing.
Investigators will review body-worn camera footage from every officer present, the traffic camera footage, witness accounts, and physical evidence from the scene. Doug King, a professor of justice studies at Mount Royal University, described what they will be examining.
"What we saw in the video is there were several different modes of use of force — there was taser, there was pepper spray, there was what looks like a bean bag or some other kind of projectile and although the pepper spray was having an effect on the woman it wasn't stopping her," he said. "What it all comes down to is, from the perspective of the officer who shot the firearm, was it reasonably necessary?"
What happened on Deerfoot
All northbound lanes of Deerfoot Trail were closed for several hours Sunday evening while officers processed the scene. The section of Deerfoot between 16 Avenue and Memorial Drive SE is one of the busiest stretches of the highway in northeast Calgary.
What comes next
ASIRT investigations typically take several months. The team will conduct interviews, review all footage and physical evidence, and consult with legal counsel before reaching conclusions. If the investigation finds the force was not justified, charges can be recommended. If it finds the force was justified, it will say so publicly.
No timeline for the conclusion has been given. Calgary Police have not released the woman's name.
Sources:
City of Calgary Newsroom, Officer-involved shooting on Deerfoot Trail, June 21, 2026 (newsroom.calgary.ca)
City of Calgary Newsroom, Update — Officer-involved shooting on Deerfoot Trail, June 22, 2026 (newsroom.calgary.ca)
