Winnipeg Free Press

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H U M A N E S O C I E T Y Donate at: winnipeghumanesociety.ca TOP NEWS A3 SATURDAY FEBRUARY 1, 2025 ● ASSOCIATE EDITOR, NEWS: STACEY THIDRICKSON 204-697-7292 ● CITY.DESK@FREEPRESS.MB.CA ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM A WINNIPEG man with a history of mental illness barricaded him- self inside his home and attacked officers with an axe before dying in a hail of gunfire nearly one year ago, Manitoba’s police watchdog said in a re- port released Friday. Details surrounding the fatal shooting of 59-year-old Bradley Singer were revealed via officer testimony included in the 23-page document, the Inde- pendent Investigation Unit of Manitoba an- nounced. “It is my view that, in the full consideration of the circumstances of this tragic incident, the use of lethal force by the subject officers was authorized and justified by law,” act- ing civilian director Bruce M. Sychuk said. “There are no reasonable grounds to support any charges.” Investigators collected statements from 15 responding police officers, seven Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Ser- vice members and one civilian before coming to the decision, the IIU said. The lawyer for Singer’s family said questions remain. “This doesn’t end the matter. This is just one report that recommends no charges,” Martin Glazer said. “It may be closed in terms of that decision, but it’s not closed in terms of the answers the family is seeking.” Glazer said more would be revealed at an inquest — the date of which re- mains pending. In Manitoba, an inquest must be held when the chief medical examiner believes a death was caused by use of force from a police officer. The IIU report says officers went to Singer’s Magnus Avenue home on the morning of Feb. 13, 2024. They were there to apprehend Sing- er — a diagnosed schizophrenic — un- der the Mental Health Act. A commu- nity mental health worker indicated he was off his medication and had not been attending appointments, the re- port said. The mental disorder is charac- terized by bouts of psychosis and a misperception of reality. A summary of the incident, provid- ed to investigators by the Winnipeg Police Service, said Singer met two officers at the door of his home with a crowbar and later discharged a fire extinguisher in their direction while locking himself inside. Officers had apprehended Sing- er from the home on similar orders weeks earlier and were aware of homemade barricades he had con- structed at the property’s entryways. The officers called for support from the tactical unit, which arrived with an armoured vehicle used to break into the home, WPS said. Glazer argued Singer’s prior inter- action with officers and the significant police response agitated him further. “There seems to have been insuf- ficient de-escalation techniques em- ployed in this particular case,” Glazer said. “When you have someone who is mentally ill and they see 15 police of- ficers at their door, their paranoia is going to go way up.” Police tried to communicate with Singer who, according to testimony from several officers, said he “only wanted to talk to God.” Singer locked himself inside an up- stairs room when officers breached the home, the report said. “There were numerous television sets and security cameras on the walls of almost every room. Investigators noted yellow spray dust (believed to be the discharge from a fire extinguish- er) that covered furniture and shelv- ing,” the report said. Officers eventually gained access to the upstairs room, at which point Sing- er approached them with the axe. Two officers fired their guns. One of the officers said he was car- rying a ballistic shield when Singer charged him and “raised the axe in the air towards me and my teammates in a chopping motion.” “It all happened within seconds. In that moment, fearing for my life … I fired approximately one to three times. I then heard someone else discharging their weapon to my left side,” he told the IIU. A second officer offered a similar statement, saying he “saw the axe handle hit the top of the shield” with the blade of the axe stopping near his partner’s head before he fired his weapon. The report references autopsy re- sults that said the rounds inflicted po- tentially fatal wounds to Singer’s torso and right arm. Investigators were unable to recov- er video footage from the cameras in Singer’s home because they were not connected to recording devices, the report said. Glazer criticized the police watch- dog for not including testimony from experts on mental health response practices and de-escalation tech- niques in the document. Singer’s family declined to com- ment on the report. Last spring, Glazer hosted a news conference alongside lawyer Jean- Rene Dominique Kwilu, calling for a joint inquest into the police shootings of Singer and University of Manitoba student Afolabi Stephen Opaso. Opaso, 19, was killed Dec. 31, 2023, when police were responding to a mental health call. The Alberta Serious Incident Re- sponse Team (that province’s equiva- lent to the IIU) is handling the inves- tigation into Opaso’s death due to a potential conflict of interest with one of the involved officers. Kwilu told the Free Press Thursday that Opaso’s family has been given no update on the investigation. Justice officials have not confirmed whether the inquests will be handled jointly, he said. —with files from Erik Pindera tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca Crown prosecutor new acting IIU head UNTIL recently, Roxanne Gagne, a Manitoba lawyer who worked as a federal Crown prosecutor in Winnipeg and Montreal, was the civilian director of the Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba. She was appointed in July 2023 to replace Zane Tessler, also a former Crown lawyer. Tessler helmed the unit for 10 years since its formation in 2013. A government spokesman would not say when Gagne left the role, but Crown prosecutor Bruce Sychuck was appointed as acting civilian director on Nov. 22. Sychuk will oversee the unit while Manitoba Justice looks for a long-term replacement, the spokesman said. Sychuk was, until recently, a senior supervising attorney in the Crown pros- ecution office’s domestic violence unit. He was called to the bar in 2000. TYLER SEARLE MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS FILES Winnipeg police enter 259 Magnus Ave., the home of Bradley Singer (inset), who suffered from mental health issues. The 59-year-old was fatally shot on Feb. 13, 2024, in the second of two incidents involving police at his home last winter. SUPPLIED Shooting death of man with schizophrenia justified Police watchdog clears officers whose de-escalation efforts were questioned ;