Chelsea, N.S. man ‘infuriated’ police lifted emergency alert before man with gun is caught

A man at the centre of a Nova Scotia alert was shot to death by an officer on Thursday.

Chelsea, N.S., resident Brian Meyers considered staying home from work when an emergency alert warned of a dangerous man with a weapon in the area.

The alert went out for Lunenburg and Queens counties around 6 p.m. on Wednesday, advising the public to find a safe location and lock their doors.

That alert was lifted around 9 p.m., with police saying they no longer believe there’s a risk to public safety. “Residents may resume normal activities,” they wrote.

“Everybody just basically assumed that he was caught,” says Meyers.

So, he headed to work his night shift, passing an RCMP cruiser or two on the way.

As far as Meyers was concerned, he considered it “just another day.” But he says his drive home the next morning was far from the usual.

“I was already moving over… because I just thought it was a pedestrian at first,” he says. “As soon as I got about 20 yards away from him, I could see the rifle and he was looking right at me, so I just ducked my head down to make sure he couldn’t shoot me.”

Once Meyers says he was away from the man with the gun, he called 911.

RCMP say they were called at 9 a.m. on Thursday, 12 hours after the initial alert was cancelled.

Officers responded and identified the man as the subject of the emergency alerts.

When they found the man on Thursday morning, an officer discharged their firearm.

“The man sustained injuries consistent with a gun shot wound. Officers provided first aid on scene,” reads a news release.

Police did not release any further information about the man, including the fact that he died, in their statement Thursday.

Meyers says it was scary, but he was more surprised by the incident.

“I was really just shocked. I didn’t expect to see him there after they cleared the alert,” he says. “It put everybody’s life at risk, including mine.”

He says people walk up and down that area of Highway 210 and Old Chelsea Road every day, families with dogs and kids and people going for jogs.

“Any one of them could have been out and about and walked past him… I was infuriated that I left my wife home alone and this guy was actually still in the area,” he adds. “He could have hurt anybody. He was in people’s yards.”

Pam Hubley, councillor for the Municipality of the District of Lunenburg says she’s “very angry” the alert was lifted.

“People were under a false sense of being okay, and to find out that he was still in the area with a weapon,” she says.

The Serious Incident Response Team (SiRT) is investigating the incident. SiRT is responsible for investigating all serious incidents involving police in Nova Scotia.

Neither RCMP or SiRT are doing interviews or discussing further details at the moment.

With files from CTV News Atlantic’s Callum Smith

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