Aftermath of police intercepting a vehicle driven by a man shot to death during a confrontation at Departure Bay ferry terminal in May 2018 (Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By NanaimoNewsNOW staff

Coroner's inquest

Public inquest to begin for police-involved shooting death at Nanaimo ferry terminal

Nov 12, 2024 | 5:28 AM

NANAIMO — Details are scheduled to be released publicly this week for the first regarding a fatal police-involved shooting at Nanaimo’s Departure Bay ferry terminal.

The May 18, 2018 death of Jer Wood, formally known as 39-year-old Jerry Robert Smallwood, is the focus of a coroner’s inquest to take place this week at Nanaimo Law Courts.

Smallwood was shot in broad daylight eight times after his vehicle was leaving the terminal upon disembarking from the ferry where a confrontation took place.

He was being tracked by police, boxed in by officers and police said Smallwood got out of his truck and he raised a gun.

The inquest will look to determine all relevant facts about his death and potentially make recommendations, if deemed appropriate, to potentially help other similar incidents from occurring.

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A jury will hear evidence from multiple witnesses.

Coroner’s inquests aren’t responsible for determining criminal liability.

Wood was pronounced dead at Nanaimo hospital about a half hour after the incident.

A follow-up probe by the Independent Investigations Office of B.C. cleared Nanaimo RCMP officers of any wrongdoing and said Wood was attempting to fatally injure himself when officers fired.

“It was very reasonable for the Officers present to believe their life was in danger as the gun was raised,” the IIO report, published in October 2018, said.

The IIO later found Wood had claimed to have “wasted somebody” prior to the incident and was focused on avoiding jail, even if it meant being killed by police.

He was linked to several violent incidents in the Okanagan, including a shooting in Vernon leaving a man with life threatening injuries a week-and-a-half before the Nanaimo incident.

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