A 27-year-old man shot and killed by Mounties in a weekend confrontation had past run-ins with police, but a friend is asking people to reserve their judgments.

The shooting happened Saturday at a mobile home park in Mill Bay. Mounties were called to a trailer for an assault, but when they arrived they said a man advanced on them with a knife.

Officers tried to use a tazer on the man but say it was unsuccessful, then fired shots at him. He was taken to hospital where he later succumbed to his injuries.

"I came home yesterday just after 2:30 from work and I saw all these police here, and found out from my neighbours that my neighbour had been shot and killed," Denise Veitch, who lives across from the trailer, said on Sunday. "I'm still in shock about it."

The victim has been identified as Mill Bay resident Chris Bloomfield, 27. As officers were involved, B.C.'s police watchdog is now investigating the death.

The nature of the initial assault call is being kept quiet, but new details are coming to light about Bloomfield.

"He was a troubled youth, from my understanding, for many years," said Veitch.

Another neighbour, Jordan Seward, said he knew Bloomfield from growing up together and called him a "good guy." 

Bloomfield was known to police, having been charged with assault and resisting an officer in 2013, according to court documents.

But those close to him said Bloomfield was harmless and describe him as a free spirit who loved people.

"It came as a huge hit. It surprised the community," friend Dylan Harper told CTV News. He grew up with Bloomfield on Vancouver Island and said they attended numerous concerts together.

He said police's account of the confrontation, alleging Bloomfield came at them with a knife, "seems really out of character" for Bloomfield.

"I've never heard of anything like that happening with him. Never once have I ever heard of him being violent towards any single individual," said Harper. "No one that knows him would even think he would be capable of hurting a fly."

Another possible clue in the tragic confrontation is a bizarre Facebook post written by Bloomfield just two days before his death.

In it, he recounted a party he attended saying that after most people left, he ingested mescaline and ketamine among other hard drugs.

He also claimed he was sexually assaulted and beaten in the lengthy post before it breaks down into hard-to-discern ramblings.

"I saw hell and heaven as well as middle earth," the post reads.

"I think there might've been quite the horrible thing that happened to him," said Harper.

Sorting fact from fiction is now the job of investigators.

The Independent Investigations Office, which probes all police officer-involved cases resulting in serious harm or death, is asking anyone who witnesses the incident to contact them at 1-855-446-8477.