The Independent Investigations Office (IIO) has cleared a Dawson Creek RCMP officer of any wrong-doing in a 2015 fatal shooting.
The shooting happened on July 16, 2015 at an open house related to the Site C dam project that was organized by BC Hydro in Dawson Creek. It was the last of five open houses BC Hydro was holding that month to provide information for people in the region.
Police were called to the event at the Stonebridge Hotel at about 6:30 p.m. due to a disturbance and instead found a man disguised in a mask with one hand behind his back outside the hotel.
According to witnesses, the person who had made a disturbance at the Site C open house, came in and interrupted proceedings by tearing down signs and flipping over tables. That person eventually left the room where the meeting happened and Dawson Creek RCMP were called to the scene.
Originally, the IIO believed that the masked individual RCMP shot and killed outside the building was “connected to the complaint.” The IIO later found this not to be the case.
“We know now that when police arrived in response to that complaint, they came into contact with a second adult male unrelated to the public information session,” said IIO spokesperson Kellie Kilpatrick at the time of the shooting.
When police confronted the man in the mask, he came at them in an “aggressive manner,” Kilpatrick said.
Police had asked the masked man to show his hand but instead he kept moving past them. Eventually police were able to see the man was carrying a switchblade, which was not open. According to witnesses, the man opened the knife and moved towards the officers making a “lunging” action, “jabbing at” and “coming towards” the police.
Police said the man was ordered to drop the knife and then pepper spray was used, which had no impact. According to the IIO, the man would not listen to police and relinquish his knife and a police officer subsequently shot the man once. The man was taken to hospital but did not survive his injuries.
He was later identified by the BC Coroners Service as 48-year-old James Daniel McIntyre and was a resident of Dawson Creek.
The IIO started their investigation on July 16 and a little more than a year later said the officer did not commit any offence during the incident and the matter will not be referred to Crown counsel for charges.
Connection with Anonymous?
McIntrye’s death prompted the hacktivist group ‘Anonymous’ to threaten retaliation for the shooting.
Eyewitness video posted online showed a man wearing a Guy Fawkes mask lying bloodied on the ground while two Mounties faced him with weapons drawn.
The smiling Fawkes mask has become a symbol for Anonymous. Fawkes was the most well-known member of a plot to blow up the British Parliament in 1605.
The hacktivist group issued a press release claiming the man killed was one of their own and vowed revenge against the RCMP. It promised to identify the officer involved and release his personal information on the Internet.
The group took credit for shutting down some RCMP websites, although government officials claim it was maintenance.
Others associated with the hacktivist group raised questions about further actions, saying:
“No Canadian Anonymous that we know of supports the outing of the RCMP officer or the screams for ‘vengeance’ at this time.”
WATCH: Who is Anonymous?
~ with files from Jon Azpiri
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