Both the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) and Independent Investigation Office of BC (IIO) have been called in after the death of two people in Surrey.
The RCMP says it was called to an assault in progress at a home in the area of 194th Street and 66A Avenue around 8:30 pm Monday.
Members of the RCMP’s Surrey Provincial Operations Support Unit (SPOSU) arrived to find a man with a weapon and “an interaction occurred."
Shots were fired by police and despite the best efforts of paramedics, who were reportedly staged nearby and immediately called in to provide medical care, the man died at the scene.
Officers then entered the home in question and discovered a woman dead inside.
IHIT says the deceased were a couple in their 60s who lived together at the residence and the physical assault that triggered the initial police response stemmed from “intimate-partner violence.”
Although the probe is in its infancy, homicide investigators believed it was an isolated incident with no ongoing risk to the public.
“This was not the outcome that anyone had hoped for,” said Sgt. Freda Fong of IHIT. “We extend our thoughts to the family members of the deceased, first responders and witnesses who have been impacted by this incident.”
While IHIT has assumed conduct of the investigation into the woman’s death, the IIO’s probe will focus on the police actions during the incident.
Since the matter is now under investigation by the IIO, police will be releasing no further information at this time.
