The Independent Investigations Office of B.C. (IIO) says it has been deployed to the scene of an incident at a Vancouver McDonalds near Commercial Drive and Broadway.
Multiple fire trucks, as well as police officers were seen outside the restaurant at around 9 p.m.
Vancouver police say they were called to negotiate with the distraught man and despite the efforts of the officer, the man in his 30s lit himself on fire.
The man had entered the restaurant carrying a gasoline can and was threatening to harm himself.
He also lit parts of the restaurant on fire.
Officers used less lethal arwen rounds and members from Vancouver Fire and Rescue used a high pressure water hose on the man.
The man was transported to hospital with serious burn injuries and the restaurant sustained some property damage.
The IIO said in a tweet early Friday morning it was probing the event.
Witness reports say the man was threatening to burn down the McDonald’s, and was pouring gasoline on the floor, then later lit a cigarette inside.
Carla Arsenault told Global News what she had seen.
“I saw him get up with a gas can in his hand, I saw him run after a woman and I heard him say ‘I’m gonna burn you.’ I was giving a description of the guy, and as I was doing that he got up and he took the gas can and he walked into the McDonald’s.
“I could see that he was shouting something in the McDonald’s and then the next thing I saw he was just spreading the gasoline all over the McDonald’s.”
— More to come…
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