A man has been charged by members of the District 6 General Investigations Unit after he allegedly threatened to shoot another man in front of his wife & child inside a southwest grocery store.
On Thursday, Sept. 3, 2026, at approx. 12:10 p.m., a Calgary man was shopping with his family at a Safeway located at 2525 Woodview Drive S.W., when an unknown man approached the family, making political comments about Canadian & American tariffs.
The suspect became agitated & started shouting anti-Canadian & pro-American remarks & later threatened to retrieve a shotgun & shoot the other man.
The store staff intervened and escorted the suspect out of the store, after he approached the family a second time.
Based on witness descriptions officers identified the suspect and tracked him to a nearby residence in the 400 block of Woodside Road S.W. As responding officers observed the home, they spotted the suspect armed with a handgun. Moments later, a gunshot was fired inside the residence. No additional occupants were inside the home at the time, and no injuries were reported.
Police arrested the suspect and executed a search of the residence and seized a .40-calibre pistol (unloaded), a loaded 12-gauge shotgun, a Glock replica BB gun and loaded magazines & ammunition.
As a result of the discovery, James Dean Garriock, 49, has charged been with one count of uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm to a person, one count of possession of an unlicensed weapon, one count of discharge of a firearm with intent while being reckless and two counts of careless storage of a firearm.
Garriock is scheduled to appear in court on Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026.
“This was an extremely dangerous situation that could have turned out much worse than it did,” says Staff Sgt. Joe Hebert of the District 6 General Investigations Unit. “Situations like this can change quickly, and thanks to the witnesses, District 6 patrol members, the CPS Tactical Support Unit and other resources across the Service, we were able to quickly locate and safely apprehend the suspect before he further endangered the community.”