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Police watchdog seeking witnesses in officer-involved Surrey shooting

This is the fourth incident within a one-week period that IIO is investigating
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IIO BC is a civilian oversight agency that investigates incidents involving police officers that result in death or serious harm to determine whether or not an officer may have committed an offence. (Black Press Media file photo)

The Independent Investigations Office is looking for witnesses in an officer-involved shooting in Surrey on Aug. 14.

Surrey RCMP said a man was shot by police in the early morning of Aug. 14, after reports about a man chasing someone with a machete, in an alley near 106th Avenue and 135A Street.

During the incident, IIO said in a release Friday (Aug. 23), “police officers fired their service pistols striking the man.” The man was taken to hospital.

READ ALSO: B.C. watchdog investigating after man shot by police near Surrey’s 135A Street, Aug. 14, 2019

Anyone who witnessed the incident is asked to contact the IIO witness line at 1-855-446-8477.

Meantime, IIO is also investigating three other incidents involving Surrey RCMP members.

On Aug. 19, around 4:30 p.m., officers responded to a home on 102B Avenue “following reports of a disturbance.”

READ ALSO: Police apprehend ‘armed and barricaded man’ after standoff in Surrey neighbourhood, Aug. 20, 2019

IIO said that officers “tried to communicate with a male who they observed was in possession of several edged weapons.”

The Emergency Response Team was called in, according to IIO, and while apprehending the male, an officer used a Taser and a “less lethal 40 mm Extended Range Impact Weapon.”

Then on Aug. 18, Surrey RCMP received a call about a male, who was in distress, at a residence on 144A Street, according to IIO.

The police watchdog said Surrey RCMP officers found the male and apprehended him under the Mental Health Act.

IIO said officers put the male in the police vehicle and called emergency services to transport him to hospital but he “went into medical distress” and an ambulance was called in to complete the trip to the hospital.

On Aug. 13, IIO was called in after Surrey RCMP responded to a report of a woman on her balcony who wanted to end her life.

READ ALSO: Police watchdog called into Surrey after woman dies in balcony fall, Aug. 13, 2019

Front-line officers responded to an apartment complex in the 14800-block of 103A Avenue and confirmed that an individual was on the edge of a ninth-floor balcony. Police officers made multiple attempts to make contact with the individual and entered the building.

The woman fell and, despite receiving immediate emergency medical treatment from police officers and BC Ambulance attendants, was declared deceased on scene.

IIO BC is a civilian oversight agency that investigates incidents involving police officers that result in death or serious harm to determine whether or not an officer may have committed an offence.

-With files from James Smith and Amy Reid



Lauren Collins

About the Author: Lauren Collins

I'm a provincial reporter for Black Press Media's national team, after my journalism career took me across B.C. since I was 19 years old.
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