It’s been a little over 24 hours since police shot two people near Keremeos, B.C., killing one man and seriously injuring a woman.
According to the RCMP, the Southeast District Emergency Response Team attempted to arrest the pair on outstanding warrants.
“While attempting to enforce the warrants, the man allegedly produced a weapon and was shot by police,” said the RCMP in Tuesday’s release. “The incident continued, and the woman was also shot as a result.”
It was a tense morning in a usually quiet community.
Jordan Allen, who is a contractor working in the area, watched the situation unfold and captured the shooting on camera.
“I could hear the communications between officers because they were only 30 feet away from me,” said Allen.
“I could hear their radios and as well as the loudspeaker from their armored truck telling the suspects to drop their weapons — and then I heard several shots.”
According to residents in a nearby trailer park, for nearly two years, the pair who were shot lived in an area that is often frequented by squatters.
The unofficial campsite is located along the 4100 block of Highway 3, near Keremeos.
“There’s a lot of people worried about their security with having transient people here. I don’t want to call it bad; most of them are pretty nice when we talk to them,” said Keremeos resident Steve Bates.
“It’s kind of surprising that it goes to that level and it was a little disconcerting.”
Bates went on to say that the incident has left the community with a lot of questions.
“Everybody is asking questions and the whole neighbourhood — what precipitated that to get to that point, that’s pretty drastic,” said Bates.
Police say the incident began around 7:45 a.m. Tuesday morning, and that the man died at the scene and the woman was transported to the hospital.
A portion of Highway 3 just west of Keremeos, B.C., was closed for several hours as additional police resources were called in.
“Due to potential dangers at the location, the B.C. RCMP Explosive Disposal Unit has been contacted and will be attending the scene. The area has been cordoned off and secured,” said RCMP.
The Independent Investigations Office of British Columbia (IIO) has been notified of the incident.
“As the matter is now under investigation by the IIO BC, no further information will be released by police,” said RCMP.
The IIO is an independent civilian oversight agency of the police in B.C. that investigates officer-related incidents that result in serious harm or death, whether or not there is any allegation of wrongdoing.