By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

Nanaimo RCMP cleared of wrongdoing in fatal ferry terminal shooting

Oct 22, 2018 | 10:43 AM

NANAIMO — No charges will be laid against Nanaimo RCMP officers who fatally shot an alleged criminal at the Departure Bay ferry terminal in May.

A recently released report from the Independent Investigations Office found the man behind the wheel, who was allegedly behind a violent carjacking in Penticton and arriving in Nanaimo around 10:15 a.m. on May 8, was trying to shoot himself in the head when officers fired upon him.

“It was very reasonable for the Officers present to believe their life was in danger as the gun was raised,” the IIO report said.

The report said RCMP were informed the possibly violent man would arrive in Nanaimo on the Departure Bay ferry around 10:10 a.m. Officers set up at the terminal and used their cars to pin the suspect vehicle after it got off, away from civilian cars.

The suspect was shot eight times by two Nanaimo RCMP officers involved in the planned arrest. He suffered a serious self-inflicted head injury, three gunshots to his abdomen, one in his collarbone and a gunshot wound in his left bicep.

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Several officers who didn’t fire their weapons told the IIO they didn’t know the man intended to shoot himself in the head and would have opened fire on the car if their weapons were drawn.

When paramedics arrived, they found the suspect “lying on his back in a pool of blood with his hands cuffed behind his back. Officers were applying pressure to injuries.”

He was declared dead roughly 30 minutes later at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital.

The shooting brought to an end what the report said was a turbulent time in the suspect’s life.

Three civilians who knew him told the IIO he’d claimed to have “wasted somebody” and stolen a car shortly before the shooting.

The suspect apparently also told them “I’m not going to jail. The police are gonna have to shoot me.”

Background evidence gathered by investigators showed the suspect was in the midst of significant life challenges, such as an injury preventing him from working, a serious substance abuse issue and was “feeling very desperate about his life.”

The suspect claimed he thought he’d fatally shot someone in a recent shooting, though the person injured didn’t die.

The IIO report concluded Nanaimo RCMP officers did nothing wrong when moving in to arrest the suspect, because they “had to act quickly to protect themselves” and “it would be impossible for an objective observer to know the (suspect) did not intend to shoot the officers.”

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