The mother of a man shot by Salmon Arm RCMP says he was unarmed.
The claim comes in a Facebook post by Cindy Winter.
“I think someone will be paying a pretty penny for firing on an unarmed person,” states the post.
His mother says Kaymen Winter, 22, was shot in the head and shoulder and may have brain damage.
He is in the intensive care unit at the Kamloops hospital.
Salmon Arm RCMP say they were responding to a theft in progress just after midnight Monday at a car wash.
Police say Winter was shot while attempting to escape arrest.
It appears Winter was in a pickup truck that was peppered with bullet holes.
Scene photos show about a dozen shell casings on the ground outside the vehicle.
In an email to Global Okanagan News Winter’s friend, Stefani Ferguson, says Winter “has never had violence on his record or had a violent history with the rcmp or anyone else for that matter nor has he ever been someone who carried weapons ever there was nothing that would cause their (sic) to be a need for the use of such excessive force.”
In a gofundme page set up to help the Winter family with expenses associated with travelling from Coquitlam to Kamloops, Terita Heibert says there was a warrant for the arrest of her younger brother so she can understand him being spooked when he saw the police officers. “He’s a young kid with a heart of gold who was from what we gather in the wrong place at the wrong time, and we think the police handled this completely the wrong way.”
Winter was wanted after allegedly failing to appear in court in Nanaimo in January on 19 charges related to fraudulently using and possessing fake credit cards
The shooting is being investigated by the Independent Investigation Office of BC to determine if police may have committed any criminal acts during the encounter with Winter.
The RCMP will not respond to the Winter family’s allegations that an officer used excessive force in shooting an unarmed man.
“It would be highly inappropriate for the RCMP to comment on an investigation that is ongoing,” said spokesperson Sgt. Annie Linteau in an email.
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