Rag-Dog

Healthy Dogs, Breeds & Training

Menu
  • Home
  • DOGS BREEDS
  • DOGS INSURANCE
  • DOGS HEALTH
  • DOGS TRAINING
  • DOGS NEWS
  • Cookie Policy
  • About Us
  • DCMA
  • Contact Us
  • Terms and Conditions 
  • Privacy Policy
Menu

Calgary South Sudanese community mourning after fatal police shooting

Posted on February 21, 2022 by admin

Breadcrumb Trail Links

  1. News
  2. Local News
  3. crime

Latjor Tuel arrived in Canada almost 20 years ago as a refugee from South Sudan, where he was a child soldier

Publishing date:

Feb 20, 2022 • 1 hour ago • 4 minute read • 30 Comments

Police on the scene after a man was killed in a police shooting along 17th Ave. SE Bystanders who witnessed the shooting protested against police actions near the scene along 44th St. SE.  Saturday, February 19, 2022.
Police on the scene after a man was killed in a police shooting along 17th Ave. SE Bystanders who witnessed the shooting protested against police actions near the scene along 44th St. SE. Saturday, February 19, 2022. Photo by Brendan Miller/Postmedia

Article content

South Sudanese Calgarians are mourning after police shot and killed a community member Saturday.

advertisement

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Article content

Calgary police shot Latjor Tuel multiple times during an altercation in which he allegedly attacked a police service dog with a metal stick in the southeast community of Forest Lawn. He died on scene.

Family, friends and community members gathered at the site of the shooting, a bus stop on 17th Avenue between 45th and 46th Streets SE, to lay flowers on Sunday afternoon.

“When he came here, he was hoping to begin a new life,” said Chatim Thor, Tuel’s cousin.

“He’s been supporting his family back home still, until last night. It will be a difficult situation, who will carry on that responsibility. He has not just lost his life from him. It’s put other people in jeopardy. Latjor was a hard-working man. He did everything he did to help his family from him.

advertisement

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Article content

“We lost a great man. We lost a peace lover. He came to Canada and chose Canada because he wanted a peaceful place.”

Tuel arrived in Canada almost 20 years ago as a refugee from South Sudan, where he was a child soldier.

Kohr Top, president of the local South Sudanese Community Association, said he first met Tuel shortly after his arrival in Calgary.

“He’s a very kind gentleman, generous, and very well known in the community. This is really affecting the community,” Top said.

“It’s been very difficult… We’re trying to look into what really happened.”

Flowers rest along 17th Ave. and 44th St. SE as a tribute for Latjor Tuel, who died after police shot him when he allegedly attacked a police service dog with a weapon.  Sunday, February 20, 2022.
Flowers rest along 17th Ave. and 44th St. SE as a tribute for Latjor Tuel, who died after police shot him when he allegedly attacked a police service dog with a weapon. Sunday, February 20, 2022. Photo by Brendan Miller/Postmedia

In a news release issued Saturday evening, police said officers responded to reports of a man in possession of weapons at 3:40 pm Saturday. They said witnesses reported the man had assaulted a bystander and was threatening others.

advertisement

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Article content

Police said the man was holding a weapon when they arrived on scene and they were unable to negotiate a peaceful resolution. They said the shooting victim severely injured a police dog, but that it was in stable condition after being taken to an animal hospital.

The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team confirmed late Saturday it is investigating the incident, but the police watchdog had yet to provide additional details as of 4:30 pm Sunday.

Loved ones of Tuel at the scene told Postmedia he was struggling with mental health at the time of the incident.

Sudanese advocate Lina Atak was buying groceries nearby when Tuel was shot and witnessed the altercation. She told Postmedia Saturday Tuel was carrying a long metal stick but didn’t drop it when asked by police. She said police released a service dog as Tuel approached the officers. When Tuel hit the dog with the stick, police shot him four times, she said.

advertisement

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Article content

Ward 8 Coun. Courtney Walcott said the situation feels distressingly familiar, with a person of color in crisis dead after a police interaction.

“My initial reaction is one of sadness and regret. I often ask myself, whenever I see things like this, how many systems have to fail — or, to be honest, be non-existent — where do we find ourselves in this situation?” said Walcott, who also sits on the Calgary Police Commission.

Fellow Calgary Police Commission member Heather Campbell tweeted that questions will be asked of police “in due course.” She declined additional comment.

“Right now, a man is tragically dead in a horrific manner,” Campbell said. “A family has lost a loved one and a son. Crisis is showing itself in layers. A community is in deep mourning and grief.”

advertisement

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Article content

More details will come in the ensuing days. More questions will be asked of the police in due course. Right now, a man is tragically dead in a horrific manner. A family has lost a loved one and a son. Crisis is showing itself in layers. A community is in deep mourning and grief. https://t.co/NuqhHWbYWb

— Heather Campbell (@ThatHeatherC) February 20, 2022

The Calgary Police Commission meets Wednesday, with commissioners expected to question police officials on the Saturday shooting. Officers at the scene Saturday wouldn’t comment on the situation and the force said in its statement no further information was available.

Young Black people living in Forest Lawn are facing “constant harassment” from police, Thor said, arguing officers mishandled the situation Saturday with tragic consequences.

Local South Sudanese musician K-Denk questioned the decision by police to use lethal force.

“This is not a third-world country, for you to use a live bullet on a person because he hit a dog with his stick,” he said.

“This is a country where you can use a rubber bullet or taser, and since there were many police, I believe they had enough manpower to control the situation instead of going violently.”

advertisement

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Article content

Calgary lawyer Amy Matychuk with Prison & Police Law said the shooting is just the latest to call into question whether police should attend calls for people in mental health crisis.

“It’s hard not to wonder what would have happened if there could have been some kind of mental health first response team that could have been called instead of the police,” Matychuk said.

She added police should publicly field questions on their decision to use police dogs and discharge their firearms while responding to this call.

— With files from Brittany Gervais

[email protected]

Twitter: @jasonfherring

Share this article in your social network

advertisement

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Calgary Herald Headline News logo

Sign up to receive daily headline news from the Calgary Herald, a division of Postmedia Network Inc.

By clicking on the sign up button you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. You may unsubscribe any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of our emails. Postmedia Network Inc. | 365 Bloor Street East, Toronto, Ontario, M4W 3L4 | 416-383-2300

Thanks for signing up!

A welcome email is on its way. If you don’t see it, please check your junk folder.

The next issue of Calgary Herald Headline News will soon be in your inbox.

We encountered an issue signing you up. please try again

Comments

Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion and encourage all readers to share their views on our articles. Comments may take up to an hour for moderation before appearing on the site. We ask you to keep your comments relevant and respectful. We have enabled email notifications—you will now receive an email if you receive a reply to your comment, there is an update to a comment thread you follow or if a user follows comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information and details on how to adjust your email settings.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recent Posts

  • How To Teach Your Dog Recall: 6 Do’s And Don’ts
  • Belgian Shepherd Socio joins Stephen Tindall to take on the world at the IGP FMBB World Championships
  • Pet Insurance Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report
  • Sophie Wessex melts hearts as she bonds with dogs during key engagement ‘True dog lover’ | Royal | News
  • Old English Sheepdogs: Facts, Personality, Temperament

Recent Comments

No comments to show.

Tag Cloud

animal animals Business condoms consumer news coronavirus covid-19 dailymail dcc dcclm dementia dog dogs Entertainment femail food insecurity genetics health Insurance local London medicine News New South Wales opioids owner Pet Pet Care and Services pet insurance pets pets & animals Pets Insurance politics poverty Research Research and Markets sexy Sport standard sydney training veterinarian Viagra wire zoology

Archives

  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022

Categories

  • DOGS BREEDS
  • DOGS HEALTH
  • DOGS INSURANCE
  • DOGS NEWS
  • DOGS TRAINING
©2022 Rag-Dog | Design: Newspaperly WordPress Theme
Manage Cookie Consent
we use cookies to optimize our website and our service.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}