'It's extremely rare': 2 officer-involved shootings in Calgary

• FOR THE LATEST UPDATE:Calgary police officer recovering from 'severe' injuries after machete attack

Calgary police officers discharged firearms in two unrelated incidents Saturday afternoon.

The first happened during a traffic stop near the Blackfoot Truckstop Diner.An hour later, an officer chased a suspect into Marlborough Mall and during the arrest both the officer and the suspect were seriously injured.

"It's extremely rare," said Acting Police ChiefTrevorDaroux."In fact having something like this occur in the middle of the afternoon is rare. Having two incidents occur in close proximity to each other, completely unrelated, is even more rare."

The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT), which investigates police-involved shootings in the province, will look into both events.

Gas leak shuts down roads

The first incident happened at about 1 p.m. following a traffic stop near the Blackfoot Truckstop Diner in southeastCalgary.

"When an officer approached the vehicle, the male driver was acting suspiciously,"said Daroux. "The officer noticed a rifle on the seat beside the male. The male was told not to move, however, he put the vehicle into reverse and attempted to flee the scene. The situation escalated and the officer discharged a firearm."

The vehicle hit a gas meter and a power pole before coming to a stop.A gas leak led to an evacuation of the diner and several streets being shut down.

The driver had minor injuries, likely from broken glass, police said. Charges are pending against him and the female passenger.

Police officer with serious injuries

The second incident happened about an hour laterinside Marlborough Mall.A police officer had followed asuspectinto the mallafter reports of a man with a weaponfighting withpeople outside.

"The offender turned to confront the officer, at which time the officer deployed hisTaser, however it proved ineffective," saidDaroux. "A physical struggle then ensuedwhen the man produced a large bladed weapon and severely injured ourofficer. The officer responded by discharging his firearm."

The officer and the suspect were both taken to the Foothills hospital.

"The officer is stable but severely injured. Injuries with respect to edged weaponsit's inches [from] where it could be fatal," said Daroux. "This officer showed extreme courage and restraint and we are very fortunate that it wasn'tmore serious than it is, and they are serious injuries."

The suspect was taken to the hospitalin critical condition, but police say he is now in stable condition.

'Swinging around a machete'

The MarlboroughMall incident began on nearby a C-Train platform.

Kayla Perrin said shesawan altercation between fourpeople three men and a woman. One man pulled out a large knife, she said.

"He was swinging around a machete at them and chasing them," she said.

"It looked like they were just fighting over he had a tote bag or something with him and they were trying to pull it away from him or something."

Police vehicles soon arrived. Perrin says she didn't know exactly what happenedonce the man ran into the shopping mall.

Jewel Hermandez said she saw paramedics takingsomeone out of the mall on a stretcher.

"There were crowds of people swarming around trying to figure out what was going and the police weren't saying anything," she said.

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