A man was shot and killed in an altercation with Vancouver police in the city’s Downtown Eastside on Tuesday (Jan. 5).
In a press release, Vancouver police said the man was “brandishing a weapon” when he was shot early this morning. Police said they were called by paramedics to a residential building near Princess Avenue and Hastings Street just before 5 a.m. Paramedics had told police that a 37-year-old man was acting “erratic and aggressive.”
The man had allegedly smashed the window to his room and was throwing large wooden objects out into the street, and was injured as a result.
“Before police arrived, the man had left his residence and went to the street with a weapon in his hand,” said Const. Tania Visintin. “Reports came in that this man was chasing people with the weapon and using it in an aggressive and threatening manner. The man was subsequently shot by police.”
The Independent Investigations Office of B.C., the province’s police watchdog, is investigating as it does in all cases of serious injuries or deaths involving police in B.C. The Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner, which investigates whenever death or serious harm results from an incident involving municipal police officers, is also looking into the incident.
The intersection of Princess Avenue and Hastings Street is expected to be closed for most of Tuesday.
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