Latest RCMP standoff death prompts renewed calls for better mental health crisis response
A Friday afternoon wellness check on a Langley man believed to be distraught led to an hours-long standoff and ended with the man presumed dead after a massive fire.
In a news release, BC RCMP said the initial responding officers reported the sound of shots fired from inside a building on the 0 Avenue property.
Nicky McIntosh tells CTV News the man who died was her father, Don Bennett – and that if he had a gun, that is news to her.
"I don't know that he had any weapons on the property,” she said.
The standoff lasted more than six hours, and McIntosh said police had a phone company block incoming calls to her father’s number which meant no family could reach him.
She doesn’t know what kind of mental health professionals the RCMP may, or may not, have used to try to de-escalate the situation.
"It just doesn't seem like there's enough mental health support for people who are struggling and the RCMP can be so intimidating,” McIntosh said.
One of the burned vehicles appeared to have the remnants of police lights on its roof, suggesting it may have been an RCMP cruiser that burned. (CTV)In a similar standoff near Lytton in January 2020, a sniper with an RCMP emergency response team shot and killed Barry Shantz – a man reported to be armed and suicidal.
At a Coroner’s Inquest into that case, the RCMP crisis negotiator working that day said the psychologist on call to offer advice in mental health crisis situations did not return messages left during the incident until two weeks later.
"The fact is that people who are in mental health distress or have substance use issues are substantially more likely to die in police encounters,” said Benjamin Perrin, a professor at the University of British Columbia’s Allard School of Law.
Perrin has written about the issue in his book, Indictment: The Criminal Justice System on Trial.
"It is an absolute tragedy in this province, and it's really inexcusable at this point, that we continue to fund more and more police when what we actually need are mental health crisis workers.” Perrin said.
In Toronto, 911 callers can have the option of being connected to police, fire or ambulance services, or being directed to the Community Mental Health Crisis Service, which offers a non-police response for calls about people in mental distress.
Last week, that city council voted unanimously to expand the program.
"We need trained nurses, counsellors to appear on the scene without sirens, without guns, to calm people down and give them the support they need,” councillor Mike Colle said after the vote.
It’s the kind of service McIntosh wishes had been available for her father.
"I'm sorry that it has to end this way. He was only 66,” she said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories

Henry Kissinger, secretary of state under Presidents Nixon and Ford, dies at 100
Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, the diplomat with the thick glasses and gravelly voice who dominated foreign policy as the United States extricated itself from Vietnam and broke down barriers with China, died Wednesday, his consulting firm said. He was 100.
Ontario doctors disciplined over Israel-Gaza protests
A number of doctors are facing scrutiny for publicizing their opinions on the Israel-Hamas war. Critics say expressing their political views could impact patient care, while others say that it is being used as an excuse for censorship.
Here is what Canada's drug shortage situation looks like right now
Compared to the peak pandemic years of 2020 and 2021, Canada experienced an uptick in prescription drug shortages in 2022 that Health Canada says has continued throughout 2023.
Annual Lego exhibit in Halifax inspires new generation of builders
Owen Grace has spent the last 20 years sharing his childhood hobby, Lego, through an exhibit he calls, 'Bricks by the Sea.'
'No concessions' St-Onge says in $100M a year news deal with Google
The Canadian government has reached a deal with Google over the Online News Act that will see the tech giant pay $100 million annually to publishers, and continue to allow access to Canadian news content on its platform. This comes after Google had threatened to block news on its platform when the contentious new rules come into effect next month.
'We wish we could've reached that kid earlier,' says online educator about boy's suicide after apparent sextortion
The chat may seem innocuous at first. The victims, often young men or boys, start communicating with someone posing as a young girl, typically on the popular social media platforms Instagram and Snapchat. But with sextortion, which occurs when people are blackmailed for money or sexual favours, 'sextorters' convince them to share a sexual photo or video.
Live updates Hamas frees 10 Israeli women and children, 4 Thai nationals
Ten Israeli women and children and four Thai nationals held captive in Gaza were freed by Hamas, and Israel followed with the release of a group of Palestinian prisoners Thursday. It was the latest exchange of hostages for prisoners under a temporary ceasefire in the Gaza war. Two Russian-Israeli women were also freed by Hamas in a separate release.
Provinces are moving away from pap smears, but more infrastructure is needed
Some provinces are moving to HPV tests as the primary mode of cervical cancer screening, and others are close behind, an expert says.
opinion Don Martin: With Trudeau resignation fever rising, a Conservative nightmare appears
With speculation rising that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will follow his father's footsteps in the snow to a pre-election resignation, political columnist Don Martin focuses on one Liberal cabinet minister who's emerging as leadership material -- and who stands out as a fresh-faced contrast to the often 'angry and abrasive' leader of the Conservatives.