Vancouver police cleared in fatal shooting of man who reportedly had a sword in Downtown Eastside: IIO

Police blocked off a section of Hastings Street after an officer-involved shooting. (Regan Hasegawa)

Vancouver -

B.C. police's watchdog has cleared officers in Vancouver of any offences related to a fatal shooting.

The incident happened on Jan. 5, when a man was shot after he was acting erratically and reportedly waving a sword that was about five feet long on the Downtown Eastside. In its review of the incident published Tuesday, the Independent Investigations Office determined officers' actions were "justified, necessary and proportionate." 

The IIO's report, filed by chief civilian director Ronald MacDonald, said police were called early that morning when a man who appeared to be intoxicated began punching the front door of Salvation Army's supportive housing building. The man eventually returned to his room and police didn't immediately respond.

Just over an hour later, however, the man reportedly began throwing furniture out from the window of his room.

"He was then observed inside the building, naked, carrying a large sword, and was seen smashing the sword against another resident's room door," the IIO report said.

The report said witness accounts and surveillance video showed the man eventually went outside with the sword. He later "ran headlong" at the front door of the housing building, "apparently trying to smash through."

Police arrived on scene not long after, the report said, and the man "quickly got to his feet, picked up the sword, swung it."

The IIO's report said recordings and eyewitness accounts said the man appeared to advance on the officers and was near a group of civilian bystanders.

When the man was about 10 feet away from one of the officers, police "fired a total of five rounds from their service firearms," the report said. The man was taken to hospital where he died.

Neither officer had a "less-lethal weapon" on hand, the report said.

"The officers' clear and immediate duty in those moments was to stop the threat … it would have been entirely inappropriate for the officers to attempt to flee, leaving a number of bystanders in great danger," the report said, adding that any other force options available to the officers at the time "would almost certainly have been ineffective against the charging, sword-wielding" suspect.

"Simply put, they had no choice … I do not consider that there are reasonable grounds to believe that an officer may have committed an offence."