WARNING: Some of the details in this story are disturbing. Discretion is advised.
A former staff member at the Patricia Hotel in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside was working the day a police shooting happened, killing one man.
The incident was captured on a surveillance camera. Police had been called to the hotel on East Hastings in May 2022 for an assault with a weapons complaint.
Just seconds after officers encountered Randy Schneider in the hallway, they opened fire, shooting him several times.
He died at the scene.
The Independent Investigations Office of B.C. (IIO) has asked the Crown to consider charges against one of the officers, saying the officer may have committed offences relating to the use of force.
Schneider’s wife was in another room when the shooting happened but Sasha Iverson, the former Patricia Hotel director of operations, told Global News she was not able to learn this news.
“She wasn’t able, unfortunately, to see any type of justice for that incident,” she said. “It’s obviously devastating.”
Iverson said only a few months after Schneider died, his wife passed away from an overdose.
“The last conversation I had with her, she was wanting to go find a safe place outside the Downtown Eastside so she could try to grieve and move on with her lift,” she said.
“She wanted justice. She was hurt, she was angry but she didn’t know where to go.”
Iverson said there was a domestic dispute between Schneider and his wife the day that he was killed.
Staff had called the police and de-escalated the situation already and police showed up about 16 minutes later, Iverson added.
“Randy didn’t have knowledge that police were in the building or coming for him for that matter,” she said. “And the police looked very startled to see Randy.”
Iverson said the incident was awful and the delay in any recommendations or possible charges is unacceptable.
“It’s just been lost in the abyss, and for me, it’s hard to believe that if this happened in any other postal code, that we wouldn’t have an answer at this point.”
As for the delay in making its recommendation to the Crown, the IIO will not comment on the specific case but says the length of all of its investigations depends on many different factors.
Over the past few years, the IIO’s former director has complained about low staffing levels in the department.
For Iverson, she hopes this is a chance for a compassionate response for residents and those working in the Downtown Eastside.
“The Patricia specifically,” she said. “You took an encampment and put them in a building. An encampment that police were even fearful to walk through and then you have staff who are making $25 an hour or $20 an hour, $18 an hour, having to manage these crisis situations.”
Residents from the Strathcona Park encampment were offered shelter in the Patricia Hotel and Iverson said that comes with many challenges.
She said they want their residents to trust them and they want to help them but sometimes they have to call the police for help.
“What I can say is that the Downtown Eastside needs more support and a lot of these people are invisible.”
Iverson would like Schneider’s story to generate change and understanding.
“Listen to the voices of the Downtown Eastside,” she said.
“Listen to people’s experiences. Don’t count them out, their experiences down here are valuable. They’re the most valuable they can listen to. What people go through down here on these streets is tragic and traumatizing on a daily basis.
“If we are going to implement any type of change, we need to listen to them.”
— with files from Rumina Daya