An RCMP officer was taken into police custody in Edmonton Saturday, in connection with the death of his wife.
Police were called to a house in the southeast Edmonton neighbourhood of Jackson Heights before dawn Saturday, after neighbours reported hearing five or six gunshots.
Area resident Vikas Kwatra told CTV Edmonton that he was startled by several loud noises during the early morning hours.
"I heard like 'bang, bang', seven to eight times," Kwatra said. "I was just thinking it was a neighbour early in the morning, nailing something, maybe nailing the fence."
Clifton Purvis, executive director of Alberta's Serious Incident Response Team, says police who arrived shortly after 4 a.m. discovered the body of a woman in the house.
Purvis said the woman's husband, a 36-year-old Mountie who has served with the RCMP for seven years, was arrested at another location a short while later.
He did not name the woman or the RCMP officer.
"We have identified one individual who is deceased. That person is the spouse of the individual we have in custody," he said.
No charges have been laid.
In a brief news release issued early Saturday, Edmonton Police said the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team has been assigned to conduct a homicide investigation involving a sworn member of the RCMP.
As the oversight agency for all police in Alberta, ASIRT investigates incidents involving serious injury or death of any person, and matters of a serious or sensitive nature, that may have resulted from the actions of a police officer.
Neighbours say the couple has two kids, although police say no children were in the home at the time of the woman's death.
"As I understand it, they're with family members," RCMP Assistant Commissioner Peter Hourihan told CTV News Channel.
