A Calgary police officer, who is charged with two counts of second-degree murder, appeared in court Monday for the start of his preliminary hearing.

Testimony from the hearing is under a publication ban, but Const. Craig Stothard was charged following a shooting during a slow-speed pursuit in May 2023 that left two men dead.

Following the shooting, police said a security guard in the community of Mayland Heights, in northeast Calgary, had called police about three suspicious people on private property who fled the scene in a five-tonne cube van.

Subsequent calls reported the van was driving erratically throughout northeast Calgary in “a manner that was dangerous to the public.”

After locating the van, officers began following it at slow speed along Memorial Drive.

Several roads were blocked off to prevent the van from entering residential neighbourhoods or the busy downtown core.

After attempts to stop the vehicle near St. George’s Drive were unsuccessful, police at the time said, “the van was able to break containment and continued moving towards officers. At approximately 11 a.m., due to the rapidly changing dynamics, one officer, a 13-year member of the CPS, discharged their Service firearm.”

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Thirty-nine-year-old Levon Fox and 46-year old Wesley Davidson were killed, while Fox’s brother survived.

Following a more than year-long investigation by the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT), including the examination of body-worn cameras, police helicopter footage, and video shot by members of the public, ASIRT recommended charges be laid against the officer.

Fox’s mother, Lena Wildman, who was in court Monday for the start of the preliminary hearing, said the family is hoping to learn more about the details of what happened.

“We know there’s so many things. That could have been done, different things, the threat assessment especially. It’s so unreal. My son and the other person, they didn’t have to die,” Wildman said.

Doug King, professor of Justice Studies at Mount Royal University, said his expectation is the case may hinge on the testimony of other officers and “whether or not they were prepared to use their firearms.”

The preliminary hearing is scheduled to last for up to 10 days.