Melissa Costigan just wanted to help the police resolve a situation. 

But what she got instead was a busted door and a house full of traumatized tenants after police stormed her house with guns drawn, trashed her house and quickly left after they realized they were in the wrong house. 

The case of mistaken identity took place the evening of Aug. 28, 2024 near Whyte Avenue. As she was leaving her home to visit her mother, Costigan was stopped by a police officer who demanded her identification. The cop told her they were on the lookout for a bearded, red-haired man who might have a weapon after some neighborhood children had called in a gun complaint.  

No one in her house matched this description and the cop was asking about a different address, but that didn’t stop the officer from aggressively demanding the keys to her house, which had three other people in it at the time—two tenants and a visitor. 

Costigan asked if she had the option to not give the cop her keys, the cop replied that she should if she didn’t want to have her door smashed down. When Costigan got back to her home her front door was smashed anyway.

The smashed front door of Melissa Costigan's home. Photo supplied.

“Afterwards they lied to me and told me my key didn’t work,” said Costigan, who has filed a complaint about the actions of the police that night with the EPS Professional Standards Branch.

After she left, the tactical team surrounded her house and got on the loudspeaker, talking about an occupant that was “armed and dangerous.” The tenants didn’t think it applied to them because they were calling out a different address. 

Eventually the tenants left the house and the cops stormed it with guns drawn, and tossed the wrong house. 

“This incident has left my tenants and me traumatized and victimized,” said Costigan.

Krysta Kostiuk lives in the attic suite of Costigan’s house. She left the house at gunpoint after the cops told her over the loudspeaker to come out with her hands up, that she was considered armed and dangerous, and that she wouldn’t get hurt unless she did something stupid. 

Kostiuk was handcuffed and put in the back of a police car. She was concerned for her dog and thought that the sound of the cops smashing down her landlord’s door was the EPS shooting her dog. 

“When it became clear they were in the wrong house, they were gone super quick. It was real awkward,”said Kostiuk, who was quickly let go.  

When Kostiuk returned to her suite, it was ransacked. “It felt like I was robbed. It’s one of the worst things I’ve ever experienced.” 

According to Costigan, one of the other tenants was tackled and handcuffed when he tried to make his way back into his home. 

Fixing the smashed door and its frame is expected to cost Costigan nearly $3,800. Costigan submitted a claim to the City of Edmonton Insurance and Claims Management Section. The city has not yet looked at her claim. 

In 2021, local online news site Taproot reported that the City of Edmonton paid out $31,000 due to property damage and minor injuries due to Edmonton Police Service actions. “The city encourages people to pursue a claim under their own insurance policy where possible,” a city spokesperson told Taproot.

Damage to Candas Dorsey’s yard after an EPS armoured vehicle was taken out by a tree stump ended up costing Dorsey around $50,000. The City of Edmonton ended up paying her a $1,000 deductible, but the costs to fix her fence, home, and backyard were covered by her home insurance. 

Back in 2022, the city denied a claim by Tzin Wine and Tapas, a restaurant on 104 St. in downtown Edmonton, after flash bang grenades damaged the exterior of the business during an arrest. 

Nearly six weeks after police busted down her door, Kostiuk says she’s still traumatized. . “I heard a sound outside today and I thought it was the loudspeaker from the cops and I panicked. I got a bit of PTSD from it I think,” she said. 

“I feel like the cops didn’t have any clue what they’re doing and that they’re very dangerous.”