A man is loaded into an ambulance after a shooting incident in Surrey, B.C., Sunday, Dec.28, 2014. One man is dead following an officer-involved shooting that is now under investigation by the province's police watchdog.Shane MacKichan
One man is dead in Surrey, B.C., following an officer-involved shooting that is now under investigation by the province's police watchdog.
The shooting took place just after 8 a.m. Sunday at a Safeway store in the north Surrey community known as Whalley and just blocks away from the Independent Investigations Office (IIO).
Local TV news coverage showed the store behind yellow police tape, RCMP and Transit Police cars in its parking lot and paramedics wheeling a person on a stretcher to a waiting ambulance.
Kellie Kilpatrick, an IIO spokeswoman, said independent investigators were called at about 8:41 a.m.
"Initial reports are that a male was at the store, distraught. He left the store and subsequently came into contact with Transit police, who shot the affected person, who we learned a short time ago did not survive his injuries," she said in an interview.
Ms. Kilpatrick said she couldn't confirm reports that a man had stabbed himself inside the store.
"I can't confirm that right now but certainly it's information that has been provided to us," she said. "It's critically important to our investigation that we obtain independent verification.
"So the witnesses who were at the scene prior to the incident and any video that we obtain from the area, that will help us determine what the affected person activities were leading up to the incident."
She said police secured physical evidence at the scene for independent investigators and about 18 witnesses have already been identified.
The agency will also be working with the B.C. Coroners Service to confirm the man's identity and notify his family.
The shooting marks the second time the police watchdog has responded to incidents in the region.
Investigators responded Friday night and Saturday in Abbotsford, B.C., to the scene of a fatal traffic accident between a teenage pedestrian and an off-duty police officer who was driving his own car.
Whalley has had a rough reputation for decades but is in the midst of a revitalization effort by the city.
The neighbourhood around the Safeway store now boasts a Simon Fraser University campus, a new library and City Hall, as well as several residential towers.