The mother of one of the two men left dead in a 2023 police shooting says she’s feeling a mix of “relief” and “anger” after a Calgary police officer was charged with murder.
Const. Craig Stothard faces two charges of second-degree murder stemming from a shooting that took place more than two years ago on May 29.
Court documents identify Wesley Davidson and Levon Boyce Fox as the two victims killed in the shooting. A third man, Fox’s brother survived.
On Tuesday, the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) — a provincial agency that investigates incidents where death or serious injury may have been caused by police — announced the charges following its lengthy investigation.
In an interview with CBC News, Fox’s mother Lena Wildman described her son as a compassionate man who was thrilled to be a new grandfather.
“He had a sense of humour that he always reminded us there’s something to laugh about. Even if it was really serious, there would be some comment he’d say and he’d just have everybody laughing,” said Wildman.
Life without Fox, says his mother, has been difficult.
“There’s always that void. As a mother, every time I wake up, I know that there’s an empty spot.”
News of the charges comes as a “relief,” says Wildman, but she has mixed emotions.
“I admit there’s been a lot of anger,” she added. “I don’t understand why the police officer had to resort to shooting them.”
Officer ‘maintains his innocence’
According to Stothard’s lawyer Don MacLeod, the officer “maintains his innocence and he intends to mount a full and vigorous defence.”
Stothard was released on $1,000 bail on Tuesday under a number of conditions, including a weapons prohibition and an 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew.
He must also surrender his passport, remain in the province and provide his fingerprints.
Stothard’s next court appearance is on Thursday.
Call reported ‘suspicious and impaired’ men
The incident took place along Memorial Drive, a major road through inner-city Calgary.
On May 29, 2023, just after 10 a.m., a security guard reported three “suspicious and impaired individuals” on a private property, according to Calgary police at the time.
The three men fled in a stolen five-ton cube van that was then reportedly being driven in an erratic and dangerous manner along westbound Memorial Drive.
Video shared on social media by URBA Calgary and Ryan Northcott shows several Calgary police vehicles slowly pursue a white cube van on Memorial Drive, followed by the apparent sound of gunshots.
Officers followed the slow-moving vehicle as it continued swerving along the road. Police vehicles were placed in strategic locations to make sure the van didn’t get into the heavily populated downtown.
A number of attempts were made to contain the van but, because of its size, it broke through the containment.
Stothard ‘on leave’
Police say 45 minutes after the incident began, the situation escalated to the point where one officer discharged their firearm, killing two of the suspects inside the vehicle.
A third person was taken into custody.
HAWCS, a Calgary police helicopter, was involved in the incident and provided its footage to ASIRT investigators, who also reviewed officers’ body-worn camera video.
“We had a voluminous amount of body-worn camera footage to go through,” said ASIRT director Mike Ewenson. “As well … the CPS helicopter was over top of this incident.”
HAWCS, body-worn video
Ewenson called the video “remarkably important” to the investigation.
“Even though witness officers certainly co-operated with our investigation,… and do their best to give us a full and complete recollection of everything they heard and everything they saw in going through these instances, it can be difficult for a proper recollection,” said Ewenson.
“Having body-worn camera footage gives us an objective view of what occurred in terms of what was seen and what was heard.”
According to the Calgary Police Service (CPS), Stothard, a 15-year member, “is currently on leave” although officials would not elaborate on whether the officer was on leave with or without pay.
‘The last person my son looked at’
In a written statement provided to CBC News, CPS said it is “confident in the integrity of the ASIRT investigation.”
“The charges are extremely serious in nature, and we recognize that incidents like this challenge the trust that communities have in the Calgary Police Service, especially Indigenous communities,” reads part of the statement. “We are committed to listening, learning and taking every possible step to understand what can be learned from what happened.”
CPS also offered condolences to the victims’ grieving family members.
For Lena Wildman, she says she’s now focused on honouring her son and laying eyes on the man accused of his murder.
“I will be there to look at that person that took my son’s life. I will be there to look at that person in the eyes,” says Wildman. “Probably the last person my son looked at before he passed away.”
