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A relapse into drug addiction put an otherwise successful, loving and loved young man in that hotel room, they have said.

In April, his father, Patrick Heffernan, told a rally in downtown Calgaryhis son “was a danger to nobody but himself” that day in April 2015.

The family has also said investigators told them Anthony Heffernan missed his checkout time and when hotel staff went to check on him the state they discovered him in prompted the call to police.

Five officers arrived with the intention of a welfare check and attempted to communicate with Heffernan through the latched door for a time before going into the hotel room.

Following kicking in the door, 72 seconds elapsed from the point police were in the room to the point the second Taser and shots were fired.

The man seemed agitated and in medical distress, police have said. When officers went into the room, he held his hands up with a small insulin syringe in one and a lighter in the other, but didn’t comply with orders.

“He was flicking the lighter in what appeared to be an unconscious habit and possibly playing with the plunger on the syringe, although there are differing descriptions as to how the syringe was being held. All of the witness officers stated concerns about the possibility that the syringe might be contaminated and that they might get stabbed or stuck by it,” the report said.