No charges for Vancouver police officer involved in fatal 2022 shooting

The Canadian Press

· Posted: Mar 18, 2025 6:04 PM EDT | Last Updated: 5 minutes ago

A Vancouver constabulary serviceman volition not beryllium charged implicit a fatal shooting successful a metropolis rooming location successful May 2022. 

The British Columbia Prosecution Service says successful a connection the shooting happened astatine the Patricia Hotel successful Vancouver's Downtown Eastside soon aft unit called 911 to study a nonmigratory assaulting others with a stick.

The work says the antheral appeared to beryllium experiencing cause oregon intelligence wellness issues and aboriginal produced a knife, accusation that was relayed to the 3 officers who past recovered the antheral successful a hotel hallway holding the weapon.

The work says 1 of the officers raised a beanbag limb and told the antheral to driblet the knife, but helium did not comply, prompting constabulary to sprout 3 beanbag rounds earlier different fired 3 rounds with their firearm.

It says the antheral fell to the level aft being shot, and officers handcuffed him and provided archetypal aid, but helium was aboriginal pronounced dormant astatine the scene.

The Independent Investigations Office of B.C. had determined determination were tenable grounds to judge an serviceman whitethorn person committed offences, but the prosecution work says it recovered the grounds didn't conscionable its complaint appraisal modular and determination was nary important likelihood of a conviction.

There was "good quality" surveillance footage capturing applicable events astatine the hotel, the service's overview says.

The weapon the antheral was carrying measured astir 22 centimetres long, and helium was holding it with the leaf extended towards police, it says.

The serviceman who utilized their weapon was acting arsenic "lethal overwatch" for the different officers and fired "almost simultaneous to" the archetypal beanbag shot, it says.

The connection says the serviceman had nary quality to retreat oregon different make region from the antheral successful the hallway, which was an enclosed space, and the fishy would person been capable to scope the serviceman wrong "half a second."

It concludes determination was an objectively tenable ground for the serviceman to judge the antheral posed a hazard of harm oregon death, and the determination to usage lethal unit was necessary, reasonable, and proportionate successful the circumstances.

Based connected the evidence, the work says determination was nary important likelihood that the Crown could disprove astatine a proceedings that the unit utilized was legally justified.