CALGARY—A woman in her 30s is dead after she was shot by a Calgary police officer on Christmas Day following an early morning pursuit, an incident currently under investigation by the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT).

The Calgary Police Service said officers first spotted a vehicle being “driven erratically” near 9th Ave. and Blackfoot Trail just after midnight, in a statement issued Tuesday. Officers tried to stop the vehicle after suspecting the driver was impaired. However, the vehicle kept going.

Police said the driver drove throughout northwest Calgary and ran several red lights. Officers tried twice more to stop the vehicle at around 12:30 a.m., but weren’t able to.

“For safety reasons, the officers disengaged from following the vehicle at 12:40 a.m.,” the Calgary Police Service statement said.

Roughly two hours later, a witness called police to report a driver was “running red lights and doing U-turns” in the Falconridge neighbourhood. Police suspected this was in fact the earlier driver they had tried to stop. According to the statement, officers watched the vehicle drive into oncoming traffic “on multiple occasions throughout northeast Calgary.”

Police were able to stop the vehicle on McKnight Blvd., near 68th St. NE, at around 2:40 a.m., according to their statement. It isn’t clear what happened next. The statement said the “incident escalated” and a Calgary police officer fired his gun, hitting the driver.

EMS pronounced the driver dead at the scene of the shooting. Police said her identity hasn’t been confirmed yet and her next of kin haven’t been notified. An autopsy is scheduled to take place on Wednesday.

No officers were injured during the incident.

ASIRT investigates instances of serious injury, death, as well as actions of a sensitive or serious nature, alleged to be the result of a police officer’s actions.

The Calgary Police Service said the officer under investigation is a patrol officer with 10 years’ experience on the force.

With files from The Canadian Press

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