ANSWERS SOUGHT IN FATAL SHOOTING BY POLICE

Could the fatal chain of events that left Abe Hiebert dying from a police
officer's bullet have been prevented?

That is the question an inquest into the 60-year-old Winnipeg man's death
will seek to answer over the next three weeks.

The inquest, which is expected to hear evidence from as many as 30
witnesses, began yesterday in a Winnipeg courthouse.

Eight officers with a narcotics search warrant had gone to Hiebert's
Dufferin Avenue home the night of Dec. 16, 1997. Hiebert, who according to
earlier reports was blind in one eye and hard of hearing, refused to open
his back door, forcing police to use a battering ram to try to break it
down.

Inquest counsel Doug Abra said yesterday he plans to introduce evidence to
show that one of the officers attempted to gain entry to the house through
a rear window when the outside metal door would not open.

Armed with a bat and pepper spray, Hiebert confronted the officers and
assaulted two of them. He was shot once in the upper body and later died in
hospital.

The officer who pulled the trigger, 42-year-old Det. Sgt. Leonard Small,
was cleared by an internal police probe that determined Hiebert posed an
imminent threat of death or grievous bodily harm to the police officers.

Hiebert's daughter, Angela Nichols and common-law wife Wilma Cameron have
both filed lawsuits over the shooting.

Abra said he will be calling expert witnesses who will testify on the use
of force by police officers, as well as neighbours, the eight police
officers who were at the house and witnesses who were at a Christmas party
that some of the officers had attended before the shooting.

Martin Pollock -- who along with his father Harvey is representing Nichols
- -- said the purpose of the inquest, for them, is to discover the facts of
the case. "A daughter lost a loved one," said Pollock. "The family does
want to know what happened."