Police say tactical team likely saved hostage’s life

By Lethbridge Herald on July 15, 2022.

Members of the Lethbridge police tactical team work at the scene after rushing in to a downtown office during Thursday’s hostage taking incident. Herald photo by Ian Martens

Al Beeber – LETHBRIDGE HERALD – abeeber@lethbridgeherald.com

Believing a hostage’s life was in imminent danger, Lethbridge police on Thursday acted swiftly. The hostage, a 54-year-old woman who had been taken into an office at Lethbridge Legal Guidance by another woman armed with an AirSoft air pistol and a knife, was stabbed multiple times in the neck as police rushed in to end the situation.

Acting staff sergeant Bruce Hagel of Lethbridge Police Service told reporters on Friday a woman, who has since been identified as 40-year-old Courtney Louise Shaw of Lethbridge, entered Lethbridge Legal Guidance on the 400 block of 5 St. S. on Thursday. Four employees were present when Shaw asked to speak to a specific lawyer.

After being told that lawyer wasn’t available, Shaw asked to use a washroom and after about 10 minutes, she came out and pointed a black handgun at two employees and threatened to kill them. One staffer was able to grab a phone and hide under her desk to call 911.

Police got the call about 1:30 p.m.

Hagel said as the situation progressed, Shaw also produced a knife and continued to threaten to kill the employees if they tried to leave and didn’t get the lawyer on the phone.

She then forced a 54-year-old female into an office and closed the door. The other employees then escaped.

After arriving, police cordoned off the area, evacuated nearby businesses and advised others to have staff shelter in place.

The Critical Incident Team, including the tactical team and crisis negotiators were deployed and established telephone communication with the hostage-taker.

Police negotiated for about one hour and at 3 p.m. due to an imminent threat to the hostage’s life, police entered the building, Hagel said.

“The subject was holding a knife to herself, was taken into custody and officers then immediately began providing life-saving measures to the victim who sustained serious injuries after being stabbed in the neck multiple times,” said Hagel.

EMS took her to Chinook Regional Hospital where she was stabilized before undergoing surgery. As of Friday, she was still in stable condition.

Shaw was treated on scene and later received treatment for lacerations to a hand.

Police seized a knife and the Airsoft handgun at the scene. An Airsoft handgun is an air pistol that is readily available at sporting good stores with no need to have a license.

Shaw is facing numerous charges including one count of attempted murder, aggravated assault, taking a hostage, use of an imitation firearm while committing an offence, possession of a weapon dangerous to the public, four counts of unlawful confinement, four counts of uttering threats and three counts of assault with a weapon.

Following a Judicial Interim Release Hearing, she was remanded in custody and is schedule to appear in court on July 22.

Hagel said the first step in dealing with such a situation is to try negotiations. Once negotiations were established, there were discussions with the offender and the victim by speakerphone, he said.

“The goal here is to resolve this peacefully and have the offender surrender. Our main concern is the safety of that hostage inside,” he added.

Negotiators were giving information in real time to the incident commander and there were constant evaluations of that info.

He said there was no visual observances of the office so police relied upon audio.

He said a critical point came where crisis negotiators believed an imminent threat existed to the hostage’s life and at that moment the tactical team entered the building and likely saved the hostage’s life.

Police chief Shahin Mehdizadeh said his thoughts and prayers are with the victim, her family and colleagues, all police employees and city residents for the trauma that was experienced.

“There has been a huge outpouring of support from the community and I’m grateful to everyone” who has reached out, he said.

Mehdizadeh said the incident was deeply concerning to him both as a citizen and the chief of police.

“In every high risk incident, our first priority is the safety of our citizens and the safety of our officers who put themselves at risk every day,” the chief said.

“Our members train for days like these and I’m extremely proud of every officer and employee behind the scene,” he said.

He said crisis negotiations did everything they could do to communicate with the hostage-taker to de-escalate the situation before the imminent threat of violence required the tactical team to make entry, he said.

Mayor Blaine Hyggen extended his thoughts to the victim and her family and said “I cannot imagine the stress and fear” that she experienced.

He thanked the LPS “who put themselves in harm’s way during yesterday’s incident. While the outcome was severe, it could have been much worse without the assistance of the brave men and women of the Lethbridge Police Service.

“We all know this type of risk comes with the job of being a police officer but we take it for granted until we see an incident of yesterday’s severity,” the mayor added.

Hyggen said he wants residents to know city council hears them and is continuing to make the health and safety of the community a top priority.

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