By Ian Holmes

Key witness sought in fatal police-involved shooting in Nanaimo

Aug 25, 2016 | 4:28 PM

NANAIMO — The Independent Investigations Office is looking for who was in a truck that stopped at the scene of a fatal police involved shooting in Nanaimo.

Back on June 14, the IIO reported that a man holding a knife was shot and killed by a Nanaimo RCMP officer following an encounter on Country Club Drive.

The IIO’s Aidan Buckley says an unknown number of people were inside a blue pick-up truck that turned right on Wassell Way and stopped at Country Club Drive for one minute before leaving.

“It’s believed the occupants of this truck may have seen what happened and would be a key witness to this incident,” says Buckley.

Buckley says it’s unclear how many people were in the truck at the time.

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He says the IIO wants to hear from any potential witnesses to the incident, which occurred at 10:45am, no matter how small the details may be.

“Any witness statements is going to play a part in the investigation.”

He says several witnesses have already come forward.

49-year-old Craig Andrew Ford was transferred to Nanaimo Hospital following the shooting and pronounced dead.

Buckley says a team of five IIO officers were deployed to Nanaimo following the shooting to collect evidence from the scene, canvass the area for witnesses, and interview RCMP officers.

The IIO team assigned to the Nanaimo case have been working the file at its Surrey headquarters, but that could change, according to Buckley.

“Investigators may return to Nanaimo in the near future in order to conduct some follow-up investigations.”

It would appear that the independent police watchdog investigation is in its early stages, as Buckley notes probes involving death typically take 14 to 18 months to complete.

The IIO was created in 2012 to investigates police officer involved incidents resulting in serious harm and death.

The IIO doesn’t recommend criminal charges, but instead forwards reports for Crown Counsel’s discretion.

Witnesses to the Nanaimo police involved shooting on June 14 are asked to contact the Independent Investigations Office at 1-855-446-8477 (TIPS).