A man who shot himself in his car near a South Surrey intersection early Dec. 21 died from his injuries.
Owen Court, a spokesperson for the Independent Investigations Office, confirmed Friday that the man succumbed on the same day of the shooting, which occurred just before 1 a.m. during a police traffic stop near 24 Avenue and King George Boulevard.
Taken to hospital in critical condition, the victim died at about 3 p.m., Court said.
A related investigation by Surrey RCMP is ongoing, in connection with a shooting that occurred in Newton less than an hour before the South Surrey incident.
Police responding to a report of shots fired near 127 Street and 63 Avenue just after midnight on Dec. 21 found a 35-year-old woman who had been wounded in the hand and shoulder. She had been shot in front of her 10-year-old son; the shooter fled the scene.
IIO officials confirmed later that morning that the man who shot himself in South Surrey was the same individual at the centre of the Newton incident.
Friday, Cpl. Bert Paquet said he could not speak to the IIO investigation, but that officers with Surrey’s serious crimes unit still have “some loose ends” to tie up on the Newton file, “to make sure the victim and her son are safe and are well.”
“We are no longer looking for a suspect in the shooting.”
Paquest confirmed the victim and the 42-year-old suspect knew one another.
The woman who was injured, he noted, is expected to make a full recovery.
“That is the good news of this incident,” Paquet said. “The fact that she and (her son) will be OK is truly what matters in this case.”
