Police said Walid Mohamed Maragan was waving a butcher knife at them when they arrived at an apartment in this southwest building on Sept. 4, 2008. (Mike Moynihan/CBC)

A Calgary police officer acted reasonably when he fatally shot a man who was waving a butcher knife and refusing to drop the weapon, a provincial investigation concludes.

The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT), which investigated the 2008 shooting of Walid Mohamed Maragan, 35, said Wednesday that no charges will be laid against the Calgary officer who fired the three shots that hit the man.

On the night of Sept. 4, 2008, Maragan called 911 and said he had stabbed his wife to death. Four police officers arrived at the Karima Towers in the 1500 block of 26th Avenue S.W. to find the apartment door open and Maragan in front of the bedroom door waving a butcher knife.

Maragan refused officer commands to put down the knife. The officers deployed a Taser to subdue Maragan but only one of the device's two prongs hit the man, preventing an electronic current from getting through to his body, ASIRT director Clifton Purvis said Wednesday.

Maragan kept refusing to put down the knife, continuing to make slashing and stabbing motions, so an officer subsequently fired three rapid shots, he said.

Shots fired 39 seconds after police arrive

"Mr. Maragan presented in a combative fashion. He had a knife, there was blood present at the scene, there was concern for the welfare of anybody who may have been in the suite, and at that point in time it was impossible to tell who was in the suite," he said. "There was some urgency, clearly."

'We've determined that having examined the situation as it unfolded, the shots fired by the Calgary Police Service member in this incident were reasonable.'—Clifton Purvis, Alberta Serious Incident Response Team

A constable with 1.5 years of experience pulled the trigger 39 seconds after officers arrived, said the report. Under the Criminal Code, police can fire if they fear for their own safety or someone else's safety, added Purvis.

"As you are probably well aware, it's almost impossible to shoot to disable someone. We've determined that having examined the situation as it unfolded, the shots fired by the Calgary Police Service member in this incident were reasonable."

Margan's wife, Sabah Yousif Rizig, 33, was found unconscious in the bedroom with multiple stab wounds, but she was pronounced dead by paramedics. A police investigation concluded that Maragan had killed her.

Purvis said the couple was having problems with their marriage at the time, although investigators haven't been able to figure out if they were still married or officially separated. He said there was no restraining order and neither person was known to police.

The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team is a provincial government agency that investigates incidents or complaints involving serious injury or death and matters of a serious or sensitive nature that may have resulted from the actions of a police officer.

With files from The Canadian Press