The independent police watchdog has cleared RCMP officers after a distraught Lytton man with a shotgun was killed by a police sniper earlier this year.

On Jan. 13, in the early morning hours, police were called to a home in Lytton in the 1000-block of MacIntyre Road where an armed man had “kinda lost his mind,” according to another person in the house, as detailed in a report released today by the Independent Investigations Office.

The Southeast District RCMP Emergency Response Team was called in about 30 minutes later, after the man inside fired a shotgun bullet in the general direction of officers on scene.

Two civilians inside the house came out at about 10:30 a.m., and shortly after the man inside called 911 saying he would be walking out at 2:06 p.m., and was planning to walk towards officers with his gun in hand, adding “I want six shots in my body please.”

ERT team snipers called it a “super, super high risk” situation as the time approach 2:06 p.m., and de-escalation efforts were not working.

At 2:05 p.m., the man started to walk out the front door with a shotgun in hand, in an “athletic position” where he could’ve quickly turned and aimed at officers staged close to the home, according to the IIO report.

He was then shot and killed by a sniper.

IIO chief civilian officer Ronald MacDonald says lethal force was a last resort, but says it was justified by officers, based on threats made towards officers.

“The threats repeated uttered by the affected person were significant. He said he would walk towards police with a gun. He had made statements to those in his home that suggested that he was mentally unwell,” he said “He demonstrated a desire to die and all of that together created a highly dangerous situation for police in the area.”

MacDonald wrote in the report that the 12-guage shotgun the victim had was loaded with a live shell in the chamber and the safety was off.

In all, the IIO says it interviewed 18 witnesses before releasing its report, including seven civilians.

Witnesses said the mental health of the man killed had been deteriorating for several months, saying he had started heavily smoking marijuana. MacDonald says the man told a dispatcher before being killed that “he could not go to jail because he could not smoke marijuana there” saying he sounded distraught and distressed.

The identity of the man killed has not been made public.