Man who fled scene after fatal shooting by police in southern Manitoba arrested in Sask.

Saskatchewan RCMP say they’ve arrested a man who fled the scene after another man was fatally shot by police in southern Manitoba early Wednesday morning.

David Frank Burling, 29, was arrested along with woman without incident near Springside, Sask., about 25 kilometres northwest of Yorkton, around 2:30 p.m. CT, following an hours-long search for Burling.

Earlier on Wednesday, RCMP said he fled the scene were another man was declared dead following a shooting by Winnipeg police.

Manitoba RCMP said the man was declared dead at the scene in Niverville, about 20 kilometres south of Winnipeg, around 3 a.m. Wednesday.

At an early afternoon news conference, Winnipeg police said the shooting followed a pursuit that began when they got a report from RCMP of a stolen vehicle southwest of Winnipeg around 12:40 a.m.

Shortly after, a Winnipeg police patrol unit spotted the stolen truck, a black Ford F-350, near Ness Avenue and Linwood Street, in west Winnipeg.

The police service’s helicopter tracked the vehicle for about an hour, before it ended up at a parking lot on College Crescent in Otterburne, in the Providence University College area, just south of Niverville. 

As a police cruiser entered the lot, it was rammed by the stolen vehicle, after which there was an “engagement” in which police fired their guns, and the suspects fled the scene in the truck, Winnipeg police said.

The police helicopter continued tracking their vehicle, following it to a parking lot on Drovers Run in Niverville, where the driver of the stolen truck got into another vehicle and fled.

Another man, who was found inside the black Ford with a gunshot wound, died from his injuries before an ambulance arrived, police said.

A woman who was a passenger in the stolen truck tried to escape on foot, but she was arrested by RCMP.

Saskatchewan RCMP said Wednesday morning they were looking for Burling, and later indicated he may be travelling through the Yorkton area, in southeastern Saskatchewan.

They believed he was driving a green 2016 Subaru Crosstrek SUV, which had a Manitoba licence plate reading either LJB 238 or LMJ 710.

In their Wednesday afternoon update, Saskatchewan RCMP said Burling and the woman were found in a silver vehicle, not the Subaru, but asked the public to call RCMP if they see the green Subaru, warning they should not approach if it’s spotted.

‘We react to the actions of people’: police

Winnipeg police said Wednesday afternoon that the initial report they got from RCMP about the stolen truck warned them the vehicle was occupied by people who may be armed and had prior criminal history, including two previous pursuits outside Winnipeg.

Deputy Chief Art Stannard said the suspects were known to city police.

Police wouldn’t give the name of the man who was shot, saying the use of force is now being investigated by the Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba, the watchdog agency which investigates all serious incidents involving police in the province.

The IIU said in a Wednesday afternoon news release it’s requested a civilian monitor, as the incident involves a death.

“Police members take their oath very seriously to protect and serve the citizens of Winnipeg. They don’t want to kill anybody and they don’t want to shoot anybody,” Stannard said at Wednesday’s news conference, but “we react to the actions of people.”

Winnipeg Police Service Const. Claude Chancy wouldn’t speak to the specifics of the Wednesday morning shooting, but said generally, “whenever you’re in a police vehicle, you always have your sidearm on you,” while something like a long gun may not be immediately accessible to officers.

Bullet holes in police vehicle

The police pursuit ended in the Drovers Run area of Niverville, a business strip that runs parallel to Highway 311 through the town.

A woman told CBC News Wednesday morning that police were focused on an area around a Shell gas station and Tim Hortons restaurant at the corner of Drovers Run and Krahn Road.

Manitoba police were also at a second scene earlier Wednesday, just southeast of Niverville, at the corner of Highway 59 and Provincial Road 305, which is between Otterburne and Niverville.

A Winnipeg police cruiser was parked there earlier Wednesday with a portion of its front end smashed in and about a dozen bullet holes in its windshield.

RCMP said that was connected with the Niverville incident.

An RCMP cruiser was later seen at Providence University College in Otterburne.

“Some of our staff and faculty who live on campus … were aware of an event overnight,” said Providence provost Nicholas Greco. 

“From what I can see, it looks like a vehicle came through this area, and there was some reports that I heard of ‘pops.'”

‘Doesn’t seem like something that happens here’

David Polanski, who lives nearby the Dovers Run area in Niverville, said he woke up to what sounded like screeching tires and multiple shots. He said it all unfolded “within a few minutes.”

“I heard screaming a little bit, like a female voice,” he said. “Then I saw cop lights everywhere, right? Then I heard screeching of tires. I thought it was a drug deal or something.” 

Polanski said he saw a police officer running with a shotgun, after which he decided to shut his doors to not interfere. He said a police later told him the people involved in the incident were from Winnipeg.

“It doesn’t seem like something that happens here,” he said. “I like to live out of cities, quieter. [It’s] a little bit alarming.”

Henok Negash runs Negash Coffee, next door to the Tim Hortons.

“When you hear of a police shooting … in a small town, [it’s] never happened like this before,” he said. “It just shooks you a little bit…. You can tell everybody who comes in here is a little bit shocked.”

Former Niverville mayor Clarence Braun, who lives about two blocks away, said he saw swarms of RCMP and Winnipeg police officers on his way to work.

“I don’t think what we see here reflects on our community specifically,” he said, but it does “[reflect] on the culture that we that we live in today.”

In a Wednesday morning notice to parents, Hanover School Division said Niverville’s elementary, middle and high schools have been placed in a hold and secure situation, usually used when there’s an emergency situation happening outside the school.

In a hold and secure, classes continue and students and staff can enter the building, but the school’s exterior doors are otherwise locked and monitored.

Students spent recess and lunch inside school on Wednesday as a precaution, the division said.

In a statement posted to the town’s Facebook page, officials thanked Niverville residents for their “understanding and patience” in light of the shooting, and thanked the RCMP.