British Columbia’s police watchdog has cleared Vancouver officers in the fatal shooting of a man in the Downtown Eastside earlier this year.
A report released by the Independent Investigations Office says the officers’ use of force in the Jan. 5 shooting was “justified, necessary and proportionate” because “they had no choice.”
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It says officers responded to an early morning call from the Salvation Army, where a man who appeared to be drunk was banging on windows and had reportedly been seen carrying a sword.
The report says the officers feared the man, who was not named by the oversight agency, would either stab them or one of the bystanders across the street.
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It says the officers were not carrying a stun gun and fired a total of five shots from their firearms from about three metres away.
The report says the man was taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
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