BC RCMP won't be charged in fatal shooting with self-described 'anarchists'

BC’s police watchdog has completed an investigation into a police officer-involved shooting that left a man dead near Keremeos two years ago.

The investigation determined that there are no reasonable grounds to believe the officer involved “may have committed an offence,” says a report published by the Independent Investigations Office (IIO) of BC on Monday.

The investigation stemmed from an attempted arrest of self-described anarchists that took place on the morning of Sept. 13, 2022.

At the end of the incident, the man was left dead and the woman was hospitalized with “serious” injuries.

According to the IIO, two people were wanted on warrant and were found to be living in a “makeshift campsite” on crown land.

The report said RCMP officers believed that the two people, a man and a woman, were following a “freedom on the land” ideology, based on their previous encounters with police and other law enforcement agencies.

In one of those previous incidents, one of them was “obstructive and allegedly punched a police officer’s hand and yelled ‘freedom or death’ and ‘you will have to shoot me’.”

Due to these previous “violent encounters,” the RCMP spent a lot of time planning for the arrest.

By 7:20 am, an armored vehicle arrived and by 7:26 am, officers were trying to get the pair to exit the vehicle.

However, one of the responding officers believed the man was holding a weapon.

Shortly, after that, a shot was fired and the man dropped. Despite medical efforts, he was later considered dead at the scene.

The woman picked up the gun, despite officers telling her not to, and pretended to load it.

“(She) described her thinking to IIO investigators that it was her intention ‘to get shot, to be killed, not to live,’” the IIO report says.

The woman added that went against her ideology to kill herself so if she were to die, somebody would have to kill her.

“When interviewed by IIO investigators, (she) said that (she) was prepared to die that day, noting ‘We are prepared to die for our freedom, and I wanted them to kill me… so they didn’t do a very good job of that.’”

According to the IIO, when officers are applying lethal force, there must be a threat of grievous bodily harm or death

The report says the two people had a history of non-compliance, were armed with a gun and not listening to police commands.

“Given all of the considerations, it cannot be said (the subject officer’s) decisions to shoot (affected persone one) and (affected person two) were unreasonable in the circumstances,” says Sandra Hentzen, interim Chief Civilian Director.

Hentzen said the man’s death was unfortunate but would not be referring the matter to crown counsel for consideration of charges.