Police shot, injured man in West Kelowna, watchdog confirms

Officers are seen with guns drawn on Skyline Road in West Kelowna Wednesday. (Castanet.net)

A police incident that spanned both sides of Okanagan Lake Wednesday ended in an officer-involved shooting that left a man injured, B.C.’s police watchdog confirmed Thursday.

Little was revealed about the situation as it unfolded, when Kelowna-area businesses, homes and a high school were placed in “hold and secure” mode, and the public was asked to avoid two scenes.

Two separate news releases issued Thursday from the RCMP and the Independent Investigations Office—which looks in to any police-involved incidents in the province that result in death or serious harm to a member of the public, regardless of whether there is an allegation of wrongdoing—provide more details about what allegedly happened.

According to the BC RCMP, police in the Kelowna detachment responded to a report of multiple shots fired around 12:10 p.m. in the 700 block of Harvey Avenue.

“The suspect had departed the scene, but subsequent reports of a man with a gun in a vehicle were received,” Mounties said.

Shortly after, the West Kelowna Fire Department reported to police that a vehicle had crashed in that city across the lake, and when firefighters arrived “a man exited the vehicle and they saw a gun.”

The man involved in a collision on Olalla Road and then fled to a portable toilet on Skyline Road, according to the IIO.

The RCMP said the Emergency Response Team and a negotiator were called in, “but the man would reportedly not comply with directions.”

“An interaction between the man and police occurred which resulted in the man being injured,” Mounties said.

The IIO put it this way: “There was an interaction between the man and police, and an officer discharged their firearm. The man sustained a gunshot-related injury.”

He was taken to hospital.

“Initial investigative steps will seek to confirm the details of what occurred leading up to and during the interaction with police, and whether police actions were reasonable, justified and proportionate in the circumstances,” the IIO said.

The RCMP said the Kelowna detachment’s serious crime unit is conducting a parallel investigation into the events before the man’s interaction with the police.

Anyone with information or video of the incident is asked to contact the IIO’s witness line at 1-855-446-8477 or use the contact form on its website.