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A member of the Calgary Police Service remained in hospital Sunday in serious but stable condition after he was severely injured in a machete attack at Marlborough Mall Saturday afternoon.

The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team has since taken over the investigation into the officer’s role in the incident, which unfolded early Saturday afternoon.

The incident started at around 2:10 p.m. MT when police were called to a complaint of a man causing a disturbance near the Marlborough LRT Station. The suspect, a 20-year-old man, was found hiding behind a dumpster. When he was approached by police, the suspect ran into the Marlborough Mall Sears store.

“I was coming off the bus to go on the train and I saw an altercation and all of a sudden a guy was chasing some people with a knife and he ran into the mall and a bunch of cops showed up,” Kayla Perrin, who witnessed part of the ordeal, said Saturday.

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Officers followed the suspect into the mall where officers said the man pulled out a machete. Susan D. Hughson, the executive director of ASIRT, said the police officer used his Taser on the suspect but “it appeared to have no observable effect on the man.”

When the officer pulled out his gun, the suspect struck him with a machete, Hughson said Sunday.

The suspect was then shot by the officer. He was taken to hospital and underwent emergency surgery. He remained in hospital Sunday in serious but stable condition.

The officer was taken to hospital with what Hughson called “significant and severe” injuries.

READ MORE: Officer ‘severely injured’ after possible machete incident at northeast Calgary mall Saturday: Police

Hughson said ASIRT has good surveillance video of the events that unfolded inside the Sears store.

“Some witnesses have referenced a machete earlier,” she said. “When he’s in the store, however, you can see him pull a machete from a sheath. That’s part of the unfolding events in the Sears store. It wasn’t visible, obviously visible, when he entered the store.

“It’s a very good thing that no one died in that incident,” she said Sunday. Tweet This

The machete was recovered by police on scene. Hughson said it was recently purchased. The blade of the weapon was 48 centimetres long, she said, adding the entire machete measured about 66 centimetres.

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The machete used in the incident was 66 centimetres long, according to ASIRT. The blade of the weapon was 48cm long. Courtesy, ASIRT

The actions of the police officer are now under investigation by members of ASIRT, which is called in any time a person is seriously injured or killed during an incident involving police.

The Calgary Police Service remains in charge of the investigation regarding the 20-year-old suspect.

Watch below: Global News coverage of the machete attack at Marlborough Mall Saturday, Sept. 17

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