The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team has released the findings of its investigation into the arrest of a man who set several fires inside Calgary city hall in August 2022, causing around $2 million in damage.

Calgary police were called to city hall in the early morning of Aug,. 2, amid reports a man with a weapon had broken into the building that houses city council’s chambers, cashiers and other offices.

The man set four fires inside city hall, which the building’s fire suppression sprinkler system extinguished, causing extensive water damage to three levels of the building.

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The ASIRT report says the man was armed with a machete when police arrived and refused officers’ demands to drop the weapon, instead waving it around, pacing back and forth and yelling at the police to shoot him.

Believing the man was emotionally disturbed, and posed a danger to himself, the police and public, officers shot him with several rounds from an ARWEN (Anti Riot Weapon) — described as a “device that shoots hard plastic projectiles designed to incapacitate a person so they can be taken into custody without officers needing to resort to a lethal weapon, like a firearm.”

The report says the man finally dropped the machete after being hit with at least nine rounds from the ARWEN.

Officers then used a police dog to help take him into custody, causing multiple serious puncture wounds to his arm.

The man, who was apprehended under the Mental Health Act, required surgery for extensive injuries to his genitals believed to be caused by one of the ARWEN rounds.

ASIRT says when the man was later interviewed in hospital, he admitted he broke into Calgary city hall with the purpose of setting it on fire.

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The report says the man’s medical records revealed extensive mental health issues, including a Schizophrenia diagnosis from 2006, with past violent episodes attributed to him not taking his
prescribed medications.

The ASIRT report includes details from interviews with the man, a civilian witness as well as the officers involved.

Investigators also had access to evidence from the scene, police body cameras as well as a significant amount of CCTV video from city hall security cameras.

1:47 City of Calgary services relocated from city hall due to water damage

The report concludes that the conduct of officers was “proportionate, necessary and reasonable” and there is no evidence to support any belief that they engaged in any unlawful or unreasonable conduct.

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The city estimated the cost of the damage at between $1.3 and $2.2 million with insurance expected to cover about 80 per cent of the bill.

It also forced the temporary relocation of a number of city hall services to other city-owned buildings while the extensive repairs were being done.

The full ASIRT report is available online.