The Calgary police said they will seek an independent review into their actions that led to the improper arrest of two teens in connection with recent Marlborough shooting death.

Two brothers aged 14 and 18 were charged in connection with a shooting death in the 1400 block of 52 Street NE on Nov. 13. At that time, Calgary police had said that they’d received information about a vehicle that had fled the area. The shooting victim was identified as 23-year-old Rami Hajj Ali.

“This was the beginning of a complex chain of events that led to the arrest of numerous individuals, the execution of warrants on two homes and two vehicles, and ultimately a case was made that supported the charges,” Calgary police said in a news release.  

“In coming to a decision to lay those charges, homicide investigators were acting upon the information and evidence that was available to them up to that point.”

Calgary police said that since that time new evidence has come forward leading them to believe the two brothers were not responsible for the shooting. They said once the contradictory evidence was presented, they contacted Crown prosecutors. That led to those initial charges being stayed in court.

Calgary police Chief Mark Neufeld said he shares the public’s concern with this unfortunate situation.

“These charges will have impacted these two young men and their family in very significant ways,” he said.

“And for that, I apologize unreservedly.”

He said they’ve reached out to the community to offer support and further information. In the meantime, Chief Neufeld said the investigation continues.

“We are taking it very seriously in the context of the gun violence that has been occurring in our city,” Chief Neufeld said.

“Our investigators remain completely committed to bringing justice to the family of the deceased and to those injured in this incident.”

Independent review into CPS action

Chief Neufeld said he was committed to arranging for an independent review to examine what happened in this situation that led to the mistaken charges. It was important for someone outside of the CPS to do the review, he said.

” I think it’s good to bring somebody from the outside and if there are any lessons that can be learned,” Chief Neufeld said.

“If there’s anything systemically that we can put in place to prevent this type of thing from happening, then that’s what we need to do.”

He said that the decision to lay charges in a murder investigation is never taken lightly. Chief Neufeld reiterated that it was a complex chain of events that led them to the threshold of believing there were “reasonable and probable grounds” in the decision to lay the charges.

The new evidence came forward in the form of a video, Neufeld said. A member of the community came forward with a call to 911 asking to speak with investigators, he said.  

Neufeld defended the investigators, saying they are both very talented and very professional. He said they did their due diligence when the video came in to make sure that it was authentic, and then they acted quickly to change the direction of the investigation.

Community relationships are important to the Calgary police, Neufeld said, and he knew this would impact those connections.

“I think with the community I mean obviously this is going to be a difficult blow, right?” Chief Neufeld said.

“We invest very heavily in our relationships with the community here in Calgary.”

The investigation is still active and the Chief is encouraging anyone with further information on the incident to come forward. Anyone with information can call 403-266-1234.