The Vancouver Police Department said it had notified BC’s Independent Investigations Office following a fatal shooting involving police on the Granville Bridge Thursday night.
In a statement, the VPD said officers responded at 6:45 p.m. after a caller to 911 reported an individual who was behaving erratically.
“When officers arrived, an altercation ensued which resulted in the man being shot dead by police,” the statement said.
VPD Sgt. Steve Addison spoke to reporters later Thursday night.
“There’s still a lot of things that we don’t know about that happened,” Addison said, adding that the Independent Investigations Office (IIO), which investigates all police interactions in the province when someone is killed or seriously injured , will lead an investigation into what happened .
Addison said the person who called 911 felt a man walking on the bridge was “acting in a manner that posed a threat to public safety.”
“When our officers arrived on the scene during the altercation, officers determined that they or others were at risk of either death or serious bodily harm,” Addison said, adding that several officers responded to the call, but it will be up to that IIO to determine how many of them fired their guns.
“We believe at this time that the individual either had a gun or had access to a gun.”
The Granville Bridge was still closed as of 10:30 p.m. Thursday, and Addison said he expects it to remain closed for a few more hours.
In a separate statement, the IIO said it dispatched investigators to the area Thursday night and will try to confirm the details of what happened during the altercation.
IIO asks not to jump to conclusions
The IIO’s chief civilian director, Ron MacDonald, announced on Friday afternoon On the coast Moderator Gloria Macarenko was too early to draw any conclusions.
“We know shots were fired. We know the man was hit by bullets and we know he died from his injuries,” he said, adding that eight IIO investigators were on the scene until about 3 a.m. and again later in the day on Friday returned.
MacDonald said he was concerned the language used by police could potentially influence witnesses and suggest to the public that a decision had already been made about what happened Thursday night.
“The end of the bridge in Vancouver is a very populated area,” MacDonald said.
“That means not only is there potential for many witnesses who saw something, heard something or recorded a video… [but] It’s a challenge for us to pursue.”
MacDonald said the IIO is struggling with understaffing and a lack of resources, even as the number of incidents involving police that it is charged with investigating continues to increase.
While the number of police deaths across BC is on track to hit a 2020 high of 76 so far, the IIO says it has seen a spike in police shootings and police interactions this year suspect had a firearm.
The IIO records its annual statistics based on the fiscal year, which runs from April 1 to March 31, and as of April 1, 2022, there have been 65 police deaths across the province.
Number of IIO investigations into police-involved deaths
The IIO is asking anyone who may have witnessed what happened or video footage of the incident to call the toll-free witness number at 1-855-446-8477 or fill out the contact form on its website.
