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A 37-year-old Red Deer man killed by RCMP on Christmas Day was shot by two officers shortly after he rammed a police car with a stolen front-end loader.

The independent Alberta Serious Incident Response Team, which is investigating the death, revealed Saturday the man was killed in the seat of the front-end loader he used on a rampage through an industrial yard in Red Deer.

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The man — suspected of violence against an intimate partner earlier this same day — died in the drivers’ seat after the two officers each fired multiple shots.

“The front-end loader proceeded into a field and began to move in circles,” ASIRT said in a news release. “Other RCMP members who followed the front-end loader into the field were able to get close enough to see the man slumped over in the seat and no longer controlling the front-end loader.”

The heavy machine continued for another 800 metres before it became lodged against a tree. RCMP officers then climbed into the cab and shut off the equipment.