Transit police officer could face charges for Vancouver shooting: IIO

An officer with the Metro Vancouver Transit Police who shot a man in Gastown could face criminal charges, according to the province's police watchdog.

The Independent Investigations Office of B.C. has filed a report with Crown counsel for consideration of charges in the shooting, which happened nearly two years ago.

"Upon completion of the investigation, Interim Chief Civilian Director Sandra Hentzen reviewed the evidence and determined that reasonable grounds exist to believe that one officer with the Transit Police may have committed an offence in relation to the use of a firearm," a news release from the IIO says.

On Nov. 28, 2022, officers with the Vancouver Police Department were called for reports of a man with a weapon near the intersection of West Cordova and Cambie streets. Members of the transit police also responded and "confronted" the man, according to the IIO.

"During the interaction that followed, a member of the transit police discharged their service pistol," the statement from the agency says, adding that the man was taken to hospital with serious injuries.

At the time of the shooting, neither the VPD nor the MVTP would say what kind of weapon the man was allegedly wielding.

"We don’t want to disclose at this point what it was reported to have been because when people come forward we need to make sure what they're saying comes from their own memories and their own versions,” VPD spokesperson Sgt. Steve Addison told CTV News.

“We don’t need to plant ideas in their head.”

The VPD did, however, say the man allegedly assaulted several people before police arrived.

With files from CTV News Vancouver's Ben Nesbit