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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
An eyewitness to the shooting death of Karen Lander said the 42-year-old woman "was charging full tilt" at police with a firearm in her hand.

Karen Lander: Shot and killed by police Wednesday evening.

Lona Hegeman, who lives on Glick Court where RCMP shot and killed Lander Wednesday, said she watched from her window for hours as the entire incident unfolded.

Hegeman disputes sentiment that police acted ruthlessly.

"I was out last night and everyone was going, 'Oh, they shot her in cold blood.' No they did not. Unless you were there and you also saw it, no they did not. They did not," she said emphatically.

Around 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, Yellowknife RCMP were told that Lander had gone to a friend's home on Glick Court and was threatening to kill herself. Upon contacting the homeowner, police learned there were firearms in the residence.

A critical incident team comprised of crisis negotiators, emergency response team members and a mental health professional attempted, unsuccessfully, to bring the situation to a peaceful resolution, said RCMP G Division Chief Supt. Wade Blake.

Lander, who had barricaded herself in the house, "exited the house with a long barreled firearm and walked toward RCMP officers" just after 6 p.m., according to a statement made by RCMP Staff Sgt. Brad Kaeding.

"She was told repeatedly to put down the firearm and surrender but refused to do so. On pointing her firearm at police, shots were fired," he continued.

Lander was pronounced dead on arrival at Stanton Territorial Hospital.

Hegeman described the scene in more detail. She estimated six to eight members of a tactical unit arrived in the afternoon and cautiously assumed position - down on one knee, rifles aimed - on Glick Court.

Although officers had body armour and rifles, they were otherwise exposed, kneeling in the middle of the road, not, she specified, behind squad cars.

Hegeman said the officers held their position for at least half an hour. She then watched as their body language changed.

"I suddenly saw them stand up," she said. "I didn't see her exiting the house because there is a front room that kind of juts out. I saw her running. She was running full tilt - like her hair was flying straight behind her," said Hegeman. Lander was in the street, "well away from the property line of that house," when she was shot, Hegeman recalled.

Hegeman said she saw Lander's body absorb the impact of the bullets then watched as the woman fell to the ground.

As one officer placed the woman's rifle in a snowbank, others rushed her toward a waiting ambulance on Dagenais Drive. Paramedics worked on her for some time before leaving, said Hegeman.

"I watched to see if they were doing CPR on her because my hope was that it was rubber bullets, of course. And I saw her loaded up into the ambulance and taken away but it didn't go away screeching, which is not a good sign, right?"

Police then returned to their position in front of the home and eventually took another man into custody, blocking his exit with a squad car as he tried to reverse down the driveway in a truck.

The man is no longer in custody and has not been charged, said Blake Thursday.

Hegeman said she was acquainted with Lander.

"I, I just ... I know the woman a bit and I feel very, very badly that she reached this point in her life but I also felt that she ... there apparently is a term for when people use the police to commit suicide - suicide by police or something like that. What I saw fit that category according to me," said Hegeman.

Hegeman expressed sympathy for Lander's family, friends and others who had tried to help her in the past but also for the officers on scene.

"No one gets up in the morning saying, 'I'm going to shoot a woman today or someone who's suicidal.' No one does."

Yellowknife RCMP have withheld some of the details of the shooting pending an external investigation by the Medicine Hat Police Service and Hegeman feels they are being unfairly criticized in the interim.

"I think there was this perception this woman was standing there and police made the choice to open fire on her. Nothing could be further from the truth, I believe," she said.

"I saw a lot of caution and a lot of ... I really think the officers there were trying to scale it back. They weren't trying to step it up. She was the one who took that step."

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