Family challenges RCMP statement after Mi'kmaw man shot and killed during wellness check

The family of a Mi'kmaw man killed by police Sunday in Elsipogtog First Nation say officers used excessive force when they should have been trying to help him.

Steven "Iggy" Dedam, a 34-year-old father and fisherman, was shot and killed by an RCMP officer during a wellness check in the community about 55 kilometres north of Moncton.

"He loved gatherings with his family and his friends," said his sister Amber Joseph.

"He loved his son; he loved spending time with his son and he was very outgoing, loved everyone." 

Dedam's family, some of them witnesses to the incident on Sunday evening, say there are inaccuracies and omissions  in the RCMP statement from Monday afternoon. 

The RCMP statement said officers from the Elsipogtog detachment responded to a call around 11:19 p.m. about a man in mental distress with a weapon at a residence in the community. RCMP said the man refused to drop his weapon and a member shot their gun at the man. RCMP said first aid was immediately administered and the man was taken to hospital where he later died. 

A statement Monday from the Serious Incident Response Team (SIRT), the agency that is investigating the shooting, said one officer attempted to Tase the man "but it was ineffective" and the other officer shot the man. 

Joseph and Dedam's brother Samuel were on the phone with Dedam as the incident unfolded and arrived just after they heard the shots. 

"He was Tased and shot three times," she said.

"After he was Tased, they didn't even give time for the Taser to work. It was Tase, shot, shot shot." 

They said the RCMP's statement did not reflect that RCMP were called to the home for a wellness check, and that the statement should have indicated how many times Dedam was shot. The family also challenges the statement's claim that first aid was administered immediately.   

"It wasn't administered right away as they say it," said Samuel Dedam. 

"It took them like maybe 10-20 minutes to actually put pressure to his wounds."

Cpl. Hans Ouellette, spokesperson for New Brunswick RCMP, referred CBC Indigenous to the statement and directed any questions to SIRT.