Police were justified in the fatal 2024 shooting of a 15-year-old Indigenous boy in Wetaskiwin because he intimated he was pointing a gun at one of the officers, according to Alberta’s police watchdog.

Hoss Lightning, who is not named in Thursday’s report by the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT), was shot and killed by two RCMP officers – who fired a combined 17 rounds towards the boy – on Aug. 30, 2024. Hoss was identified shortly after his death by a Samson Cree Nation band councillor.

ASIRT says the officers are cleared of all wrongdoing because Hoss twice placed his hand inside his backpack and raised it towards an officer’s face – a gesture that could be interpreted as threatening him with a weapon.

The teenager did not actually have a gun in his backpack.

Much of the

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