A man who police say was killed in self-defence in northwest Calgary last week had a history of violent allegations, according to court records.
Calgary police say a violent confrontation inside an Edgemont home last week, one that left a 48‑year‑old man dead and a woman injured, was an act of self‑defence. But as more details emerge about the man killed, so do renewed concerns about how the justice system handles serious criminal charges.
Officers were called to a residence on Edgemont Court NW around 4:15 p.m. last Friday after reports of a fight. They arrived to find a man in medical distress and a woman suffering from injuries.
The man, identified through autopsy as Shahbaz Ahmed, was pronounced dead at the scene. The woman was taken to hospital in stable condition.
Investigators now believe Ahmed lured the woman to the home under the pretense of a real estate showing. A struggle ensued, during which the woman fatally injured him.
After reviewing the evidence, detectives concluded she acted in self‑defence and will not face charges.
What has captured public attention, however, is Ahmed’s history. Court records show he faced nearly a dozen serious charges in recent years, including allegations he held a senior at knifepoint in 2023. He was acquitted on all counts.
That pattern has raised difficult questions.
“The individual was not on bail, and he was not convicted of, I think, close to 11 of the 12 charges that he faced,” said Mount Royal University justice studies professor Doug King. “If he had been convicted on some or all of those charges, he could still be in prison.”
King cautions against blaming the entire system, noting that police often do their jobs thoroughly. But he says the broader reality is stark with more than half of all criminal charges in Canada are withdrawn or stayed.
“Justice costs money,” he said, pointing to chronic underfunding and a shortage of judges as major contributors to low conviction rates.
Criminologist Kelly Sundberg, also with Mount Royal University, says the lack of transparency around prosecutorial decisions leaves the public, and sometimes even experts, without answers.
“I think it’s high time we look at the decisions being made by the Crown prosecution office,” Sundberg said. “We need more transparency on what is actually happening in our courts so we can explain situations as we saw here in Calgary.”
Sundberg argues that accountability must begin long before a case reaches a courtroom. In this instance, he says, the system needs to examine how a man with a lengthy police history and multiple serious allegations remained free.
“You’d want the heads of our prosecution service doing a little reverse engineering,” he said. “Thinking, what went wrong? Why did this woman have to take this man’s life?”
King notes that only about 42-43 out of every 100 criminal charges in Canada result in a conviction, a figure he attributes largely to resource constraints.