'The softest person ever around his baby girl': Family of Sask. man killed in RCMP shooting hopes for answers

SASKATOON -

The family of a man who died following an RCMP shooting is hoping for answers.

Shortly before 5 p.m. Tuesday, Waskesiu RCMP responded to a report of a man with a gun who had barricaded himself inside a home on Montreal Lake Cree Nation — a community roughly 250 kilometres north of Saskatoon.

Following a standoff, Dillon McDonald, 28, exited the home carrying a gun, according to RCMP. The responding officers fired their guns, injuring McDonald.

Officers immediately began life-saving measures on McDonald until local paramedics arrived, RCMP said in a news release issued in the wake of the incident.

He was transported by EMS to Victoria Hospital in Prince Albert. Around 11 p.m., the man was declared dead.

McDonald's sister Chantel McDonald describes him as a "loving father … who was misunderstood by the system."

Dillon McDonald, 28, died following an RCMP shooting. (Courtesy Dillon McDonald)

"If they gave him a chance and helped him instead of killing him," Chantel said.

"(Dillon) was the softest person ever around his baby girl, he was an amazing person."

The Saskatchewan RCMP has asked Saskatoon Police Service (SPS) to investigate the incident.

Under the federal legislation which governs the RCMP, an external agency must investigate following an incident involving death or serious injury. Under Saskatchewan's police act, another police service serves in that role.

"This is a tragic incident for everyone involved, including the family of the deceased, the community and our officers. We extend our condolences to the family of the deceased and the community of Montreal Lake Cree Nation,” Assistant Commissioner Rhonda Blackmore, the Saskatchewan RCMP's commanding officer, said in the release.

Blackmore pledged full cooperation with SPS in its investigation.