Public inquest into 2016 police standoff that ended in Joshua Megeney's death begins today

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Joshua Megeney's family has waited two-and-a-half years for details of the hours-long standoff with Saskatoon police officers that ultimately ended with the 28-year-old's death.

On Monday in Saskatoon, a six-person coroners inquest jury will begin hearing about the seven to eight hours on Oct. 6, 2016, during which police say they dealt with an armed man who had barricaded himself in a bedroom inside another man's home.

Police found Megeney dead inside the room late that afternoon, after an earlier confrontation in which two police officers fired shots.  

Saskatoon lawyer Scott Spencer will represent Megeney's Alberta family during the week-long inquest, though it is not a criminal proceeding.

The fact-finding process asks a jury of six civilians to conclude how and by what means a person died. The choices are suicide, homicide, accidental, natural causes or "undetermined."

The coroner's jury can also make recommendations to prevent similar deaths.

"This is a police involved shooting and we'd like to know how that came to be," Spencer said previously.

What we already know

Some details about what happened during Megeney's final hours have already emerged from police accounts and from interviews conducted by CBC News.

Police responded at about 9:15 a.m. CST to a report of someone breaking into a home in the 500 block of Avenue Q N.

Ron Zerebeski, who owned the home, said he called police after seeing signs that there had been a break-in.

Zerebeski said he owned hunting rifles and ammunition that he kept stored in a gun safe inside the home.

At 11:25 a.m., police reported that they were dealing with an armed man who had barricaded himself inside the home.

"There has been a report of a single gunshot from inside the residence," police said at the time.

Police dogs, a crisis negotiation team, a tactical support unit and an RCMP armoured rescue vehicle joined the scene as officers cut access to several blocks leading to the home.

In the bedroom

At some point, while clearing the home, police officers found a man armed with a long-barreled firearm inside a bedroom. Two police members fired shots.

Later that day, then-Saskatoon police chief (and current chief coroner) Clive Weighill told media during a press conference that it was not known if the suspect had also fired shots.

Another police spokesperson that day said officers saw the armed man when the door of the bedroom had been opened just a crack.

• Man found dead in home after police fired shots in tense standoff

Police then left the home and established the perimeter. The crisis negotiation team's repeated efforts at making contact with the man "were not successful," according to police at the time.

At about 4:30 p.m. —seven hours after the standoff started — police found Megeney dead inside the bedroom.

"That's the last thing any police officer ever wants to be involved in because you're always going to second-guess your actions," Weighill said at the press conference that day. "This is a tough situation for officers."

No officers were injured, Weighill said.

Wood chips in Megeney's wounds

Weighill could not say whether officers heard any strange noises between the time of police's first entering the home and the time Megeney's body was found.

Megeney's family was told of the autopsy results, including the fact that wood chips were embedded in Megeney's wounds.

"There is some suggestion he was shot through a door and that's a long ways away from an individual pointing a weapon at a police officer," Spencer previously said.

Megeney's friends said that, at the time of his death, he'd been living on the streets with his girlfriend, struggling with addictions.

Megeney, described by family as a good-humoured animal lover with "a kind soul and a generous heart," was buried in Medicine Hat, Alta.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice, which handles communications for the Saskatchewan Coroners Service, said the timing of this week's inquest depended on a decision (made with Megeney's family) about where to host the inquest as well as "waiting for all the investigations to be completed."

Saskatoon Police Service's own Major Crimes unit investigated Megeney's death. At the request of the police service, an investigation observer was tapped by the Ministry of Justice to oversee the police investigation.

Wait for inquest 'unbearably long' 

The inquest is scheduled to begin Monday at 10 a.m. CST with the selection of the six-person jury.

Megeney's family will be there, Spencer said Friday.

"Although they anticipate it will be a very difficult and emotionally draining experience, they are relieved the inquest is going ahead so they can finally hear the details of the circumstances surrounding Josh's sudden death," he said.

• 'It's been almost two years': Family of man who died in police encounter still waiting for answers

The family's wait has been "unbearably long," according to Spencer.

"The family appreciates it takes time to investigate these situations, but it took over two years before they received any meaningful information," he said.

"The family respects the process and are grateful they will finally have an opportunity to understand what happened."