Jordan Daniel Goggin, the spree shooter who killed two people and injured two others last July in Langley, was shot three times by the RCMP officer who confronted him, a police watchdog report has revealed.
“The officer should be commended for his actions that day as he put himself in the line of fire to protect the public,” wrote Ronald J. MacDonald, the chief civilian director of the Independent Investigations Office (IIO). “His actions that day may have saved many lives, including his own.”
Released on Thursday, May 18, the IIO report is the first to chronicle the encounter between Goggin, who had been roaming Langley since midnight on July 25 shooting people, apparently at random, and the RCMP, who caught up with him in a parking lot at the intersection of 200th Street and the Langley Bypass.
“(Goggin) needed to be stopped to protect (the officer’s) life, and also to prevent more innocent people from being harmed,” MacDonald concluded in his report.
After three shootings that had killed two men – Paul Wynn and Steven Furness – and critically injured a woman, Langley RCMP were on high alert, and images of the suspect had been circulated to officers.
The report also relied on CCTV footage from around the community, including from the incidents at 200th Street and the Langley Bypass, where the spree finally ended.
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Goggin, referred to in the IIO report as Affected Person or AP, emerged from the bushes on 200th Street at 5:43 a.m. and stopped a man riding a bicycle.
Goggin asked the victim for drugs, or if he knew of anywhere to get drugs, then pointed a black Glock pistol at the victim’s head.
A struggle ensued, with the victim fighting back and wrestling with Goggin in the street. At least four shots were fired during the scuffle, according to other witnesses who came upon the scene and called 9-1-1. Based on that report, a tone alert was sent out to all Langley RCMP including ERT members, notification of a serious incident underway.
One of the shots hit the victim in the leg, but the gun apparently jammed after that, with a bullet stuck in the chamber. In the struggle, the victim “successfully removed the magazine from the gun,” the report said.
“(The victim) told IIO investigators he believed that he was fighting for his life,” MacDonald’s report said.
While the fight continued, the first responding officer sped to the scene, arriving at about 5:46 a.m., just three or four minutes after the first call. The officer, not identified by name in the documents, spotted the fight and saw Goggin.
The officer “said that when he approached, he saw (Goggin) armed with a gun standing over (the victim), who appeared to be injured laying on the ground,” according to the report.
The shooter ran away, heading off the road into the parking lot near the Indigo bookstore. The officer drove after him, driving straight over the sidewalk and through the bushes in pursuit.
When Goggin raised his gun and pointed it at the officer – an encounter caught on surveillance video from nearby businesses – the officer fired back through his windshield several times, getting glass fragments in his eyes.
The officer, who was the critical incident commander of the ERT that day, described it as the highest threat level of any incident he “had faced in over two decades of frontline and emergency police service.”
When Goggin raised the gun one more time, the officer fired several more shots. Goggin then fell down. The report said Goggin had loaded another magazine and had unjammed the gun but had not successfully chambered a round of ammunition prior to raising the weapon a second time at the officer.
“At 5:47 a.m., SO (the officer) advised over the radio, ’ … shots fired, suspect is down’, MacDonald’s report says.
“Don’t reach for that gun,” the officer commanded, his words picked up by his radio. “Crawl away from the firearm. We are going to give you help okay. We have an ambulance coming but I need you to get away from that gun for me. We are going to give you all the help you can get.”
Although medical help arrived fairly soon, Goggin was declared dead at the scene. The officer had fired 11 shots. The post-mortem exam showed he was shot three times.
Goggin’s firearm was located on the ground near to him, and a live round of ammunition that matched it was located a short distance away.
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A toxicology report indicated the presence of benzodiazepine, codeine, and tramadol, an opiod pain medication, were in his system. MacDonald said Goggin suffered from depression and drug addition, but a motive for his actions that day has not been determined.
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