Watchdog releases details of fatal police shooting of Indigenous man near Tofino

British Columbia's police watchdog has released details of its investigation into a fatal police shooting in an Indigenous community near Tofino.

The Independent Investigations Office of B.C. had already cleared the RCMP officers of wrongdoing in a decision reached in November, but the agency withheld its final report in the case pending the conclusion of criminal court proceedings related to the incident.

An Indigenous civilian monitor was also involved in the investigation, marking the first time such a position had been appointed in an IIO review.

Julian Jones, a 28-year-old Tla-o-qui-aht man, was shot and killed by Mounties on the Opitsaht reserve on Meares Island on Feb. 27, 2021.

Two officers from the Tofino RCMP detachment responded to a home on the reserve around 9:30 p.m. for a complaint that a woman had been sexually assaulted and was being held against her will.

Jones' brother was arrested and handcuffed at the front door of the home before officers were confronted by Jones, who was wielding two long metal files as weapons, according to the IIO report released Friday.

One of the officers deployed a Taser, striking Jones and forcing him to the floor. When he got up, he was still holding the tools and advanced towards the officers, according to the report.

An officer then fired three rounds from his pistol, striking Jones twice and killing him.

The police watchdog says it relied on statements from 18 civilian witnesses and five police witnesses in its report, as well as audio recordings of police radio transmissions and a 911 call from the woman who said she had been "taken advantage of sexually by two men."

Photos from the scene, video recordings from the RCMP detachment and autopsy reports also informed the agency's final account of the incident.

The officer who fired the fatal shots did not provide evidence in the instigation, the IIO said.

The other officer told IIO investigators the house was "pitch black" inside when they arrived, and he believed the objects Jones was holding in his hands were knives.

'SPARKS LIGHT UP THE ROOM'

He said Jones was partially obscured by a hanging sheet when the officer shone his flashlight into the house.

"All of a sudden, he just burst out from underneath this sheet and… smashes these two things in his hands together and sparks light up the room," he said.

Jones screamed, "Don't hurt my brother," the officer told investigators. "I'm gonna kill you."

The officer said he shouted at Jones, "Don't do this," and then drew his own pistol at the man and squeezed the trigger but did not feel the gun fire.

The officer saw the flash of his partner's gun in his peripheral vision and heard three shots as Jones dropped to his knees and then fell onto the floor with his hands beside him.

The officers called for paramedics to attend the remote island by boat and searched for a pulse on Jones but there was none.

Another woman who was sleeping on the couch told the IIO she woke up when she heard the commotion and saw Jones lying on the floor.

The officer who did not fire his pistol told investigators the woman then laid on top of Jones, crying for approximately an hour while the officer continued to try to find a pulse and check the man's wounds.

"Both officers found themselves in a situation where they reasonably believed they were at risk of grievous bodily harm, at least, from someone advancing upon them with weapons that, while not knives, might reasonably be perceived to be knives," Ronald J. MacDonald, the IIO's chief civilian director, concluded in the report.

"I do not consider that there are reasonable grounds to believe that an officer may have committed an offence."

The IIO investigates all police-related incidents that result in serious harm or death in B.C., whether or not there is any allegation of wrongdoing.