Victoria, BC – The Independent Investigations Office of BC released its report today on the officer-involved fatal shooting that occurred in the 200-block of Dallas Road on November 1st, 2014. In the report, the IIO’s Chief Civilian Director, Richard Rosenthal, concluded that “I do not consider that any police officer may have committed an offence under any enactment.”
The IIO report confirmed the following facts relating to the incident. At 10:51 a.m. on November 1, 2014, VicPD received a 911 call from a resident of the 200-block of Dallas Road indicating that her son had broken a window to gain access to her house and that he had a court order prohibiting him from visiting the residence and contacting her without her consent.
VicPD officers arrived within minutes and attempted to defuse the situation. Unfortunately, while officers were trying to de-escalate the situation with the man, he rushed officers with a raised knife. An officer discharged a “beanbag” shotgun to stop the attack but this had no effect. As a result, another officer discharged a single shot from his service pistol. Officers immediately transitioned to rendering first aid, but tragically, he succumbed to his injuries.
“On behalf of the Victoria Police Department, I want to express our deepest sympathies to the family and friends,” said Acting Chief Del Manak. “In addition to the grief and sorrow this has caused the family, this incident has had a profound effect on the officers who were involved. Despite their training, experience, the action plan they developed for this dynamic situation, and their attempts to de-escalate the situation, this incident ended in tragedy.”
VicPD would like to acknowledge the extensive investigation that was undertaken by the IIO for this incident. This investigation included statements by civilians, paramedics, and police officers, medical evidence, firearms evidence, dispatch records, police communications records, and forensic evidence.
The Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner now has conduct of this matter as required by the Police Act in any situation where a death has occurred during police operations. The Department will work with the OPCC as we remain committed to continual assessment of our practices. This is especially important given the steadily increasing number of calls from the public requesting that our officers attend to people experiencing some form of crisis.