MAN DEAD, OFFICER WOUNDED IN DOWNTOWN SHOOTOUT

A 42-year-old city man is dead and a city police officer sustained a
gunshot wound in the leg following a wild shootout in the downtown
core Friday evening.

The province's Special Investigation's Unit, which probes police
incidents involving injuries or death, has been called in to
investigate the incident.

Around 6:30 p.m. at least five gunshots rang out from a parking lot
area between Maxwell's bar and Greenley's book store on the west side
of Front Street after a confrontation between the man - identified by
witnesses as Curtis McDonald - and as many as six police officers.

Witnesses at the scene said police were pursuing McDonald on a
drug-related arrest warrant when they arrived on Front Street around
6:30 p.m.

Two police officers were observed entering Copperfield's bar moments
before the shots rang out from the nearby parking area.

"I was with Curtis at Maxwell's on the back patio when he saw the
cops," one man said, who asked his name not be used. "He said 'Oh
shit' and took off. He must have known the cops were looking for him."

The man said McDonald was not armed when he left the bar's patio.

"He may have had a gun in the car, but there was no hesitation ...
there was no 'one shot' before the God damn cops started shooting."

McDonald, according to witnesses, ran around the northwest corner of
the building and into the parkette area between the two buildings
apparently en route to a parked white Sunfire. When he reached the
vehicle, witnesses said he turned to face the pursuing police officers.

The shooting occurred on the west side of the vehicle, which was
parked against the south side of the parking area.

On the sidewalk, city residents Rick Lewis, 18 and Joe Calladine, 14,
were standing in the nearby parkette, barely 10 metres away from the
officers, when the shooting started.

One of the officers, Calladine recalled, "emptied his entire
(ammunition) clip ... it dropped to the ground and he reloaded and
kept shooting,"... two more shots before stopping.

"He emptied his entire clip," the teenager repeated, pointing to the
clip from a handgun lying on the ground near the Sunfire. "Bang, bang
bang ... I think he (McDonald) was trying to get into his car."

Standing nearby on his bicycle, Lewis said "At first when I heard the
crack, I ducked, then crack, crack, crack. There was dust and smoke
everywhere..."

McDonald sustained several gunshot wounds to his legs and upper
mid-section during the altercation, the pair said.

"His feet just went up from under him and he was on the ground ...
then another cop came over and pointed a shotgun in his face."

"He wasn't even armed," another bystander yelled. "He had a cell phone
. he was trying to get into the car, opened the door got his cell
phone and got shot."

None of the witnesses' accounts have been verified by police.

Next door to Maxwell's is the Knitting Nimrod. Its owner Ellen
Kellaway rushed out of her store shortly after the gunshots echoed
through the core of the city.

"I heard the shots and knew damn well it was shooting ... it was like
an arcade out here."

A number of police units and three ambulances arrived at the scene
moments later.

Paramedics frantically treated McDonald as he laid on the ground,
performing CPR for several minutes before loading him onto a stretcher
and into a waiting ambulance.

The emergency vehicle slowly pulled out of the parking lot several
minutes later.

Meanwhile, a large crowd of onlookers gathered on both the east and
west sides of the scene.

Within moments the crowd - many from nearby Copperfields and Maxwell's
who were acquaintances of McDonald's - turned against the officers in
charge of securing the perimeter of the crime scene, yelling
obscenities and insults.

"Way to go officers," one man yelled as he passed through those
huddled on the Front Street sidewalk. "Way to go ... he was nothing
but a drunk and you shot him."

Shortly after 7 p.m. the police forensic unit arrived at the scene to
gather physical evidence.

Speaking to The Intelligencer less than two hours after the shooting,
Deputy Chief Wayne Tremble said police, "were involved in an incident
early this evening, which involved the discharge of a firearm. As a
result a person of subject inquiry was injured and we've called the
SIU."

Tremble said as many as three officers were involved in the incident,
after "responding to a complaint ... we received information previous
to this.

He confirmed an officer sustained "minor injuries" but would not say
whether it was from a gunshot wound.

"I'm sorry, but at this time I can't say much more."