A man was shot by police in East Vancouver on Sunday after they received reports of a stolen vehicle.
The incident occurred at Union Street and Dunleavy Avenue, near the east end of the Georgia Viaduct, around 5 p.m.
Vancouver Police Department spokeswoman Corp. Jana McGuinness said officers were responding to a report of a stolen Ford F350 pick-up truck when the vehicle was apparently spotted.
McGuinness said the man tried to flee in the truck after an unmarked police car blocked his escape route. When other police cars hemmed the truck in the man continued to spin his tires and the police fired a single shot, which hit him.
McGuinness said he had suffered non-life threatening injuries and had been taken to hospital.
A witness, Nicholas Kandi, was working at a film site nearby. He said he spoke to the man minutes prior to the shooting.
"The guy was visiting the house next door and said he left his keys in the truck," he said.
Kandi said the man asked to use his mobile phone to call his father for help. Kandi said the man then had a long conversation with another person.
"He seemed like a pretty nice guy, but I didn't think he was telling the truth... He wasn't talking to his dad," said Kandi.
Minutes later, Kandi was looking out of a window and said the man had been trying to flee the scene in the truck, which was surrounded by police. He said he saw officers "yank" the man out of the pick-up.
"The pick-up truck was surrounded by police cars," Kandi said. "The tires were smoking like crazy."
Kandi added he didn't hear a gun shot.
