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Manitoba’s police watchdog says a Winnipeg officer made a reasonable decision when he fatally shot a man moving toward him, yelling and acting aggressively, and armed with a wooden barbecue brush.
The Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba is not recommending any criminal charges against the officer in the May 2025 shooting of Dillon Warren Breed, 32.
The investigative unit’s final report into the incident, written by acting civilian director Bruce M. Sychuk, says police were called around 6 p.m. on May 30, 2025, to a Ferry Road alley, just north of Portage Avenue.
The caller said a man covered in blood was believed to have tried breaking into a house. Breed was not named in the report, but was later identified by family members as the person who was shot.
Two officers responding to the call arrived, one of whom went into the yard where the man was last seen. The officer heard yelling and banging and saw the man inside a shed.
The second officer joined the first, while the man exited the shed holding a screwdriver and a wooden brush with metal bristles. He was extremely agitated and holding the screwdriver in a “stabbing posture,”and walked toward the officers yelling incoherently, the report says.
The officers repeatedly told him to drop the weapons, but the man moved closer. The first officer fired his Taser twice, but it had no effect.
The man then threw the screwdriver, which hit a nearby fence as he kept moving forward holding the wooden brush, the first officer told IIU investigators.
When the man was about a metre away, the second officer fired his gun three times. The man fell and was handcuffed. The officers began first aid, applying chest seals and a tourniquet.
Paramedics soon arrived and took the man to hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
The investigation unit interviewed eight civilian witnesses, in addition to the first officer, along with reviewing video surveillance footage and audio transmissions, police notes and reports, and a medical report. The unit also had an independent use of force expert review the evidence.
The officer who fired the shots declined to speak to the IIU, but provided his notes.
The officer’s notes said the man appeared to be agitated and under the influence of methamphetamine. According to his notes, the man retrieved the screwdriver after throwing it, and continued to act aggressively.
When the Taser failed to stop the man, he charged, according to the officer’s notes. The officer said he feared death or harm, and chose to fire his gun.
Lethal force ‘a reasonable option’
The IIU determined that whether or not the man was holding the screwdriver, the barbecue brush or both when he was shot didn’t matter, as both have the capacity to cause bodily harm, the report says, citing the use of force expert who agreed the officer’s actions were reasonable.
As de-escalation efforts failed, “lethal force became a reasonable option to consider,” the report states, citing the expert.
Video surveillance reviewed by the investigative unit showed the man’s actions before officers arrived and just before the use of force incident. No footage was available from the area where the shooting occurred.
The video shows the man was unsteady on his feet, suggesting he was under the influence of intoxicants. He was seen breaking windows and throwing items around the yard, and unsuccessfully trying to release propane from a tank before hitting it with a tool or the wooden brush.
None of his actions seemed to have a purpose, the report states. At one point, the man appeared to either be hiding under a barbecue pit grill or use it as a shield, and he also used a glass shard from a broken window to cut his neck and wrist areas, the report says.
Civilian witnesses interviewed by the police watchdog said the man seemed to be under the influence of something and “prepared for a confrontation.” They encountered him before police arrived and said he had been in other yards causing trouble, such as using a ladder to break a basement window.
Two witnesses described the man as being variously armed with a boxcutter, a fire poker, a can of brake cleaner and a lawn ornament wrapped around his arm, before he jumped a fence and left their yard.
Toxicology results revealed the presence of meth as well as traces of benzodiazepines, which are nervous system depressants, in the man’s system, the report says.
In reviewing all the evidence, Sychuk said the officers acted appropriately and the investigation is now complete and closed.