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B.C.'s police watchdog finds grounds for possible charges against 3 RCMP officers in death of Wet'suwet'en man

British Columbia's police watchdog says it has found reasonable grounds for possible charges against three RCMP officers after a 38-year-old Wet'suwet'en man was shot dead by B.C. RCMP last July. 

Jared Lowndes was shot and killed by RCMP officers in Campbell River outside a Tim Hortons in July 2021

CBC News ·
A man wearing sunglasses in a car.
Jared Lowndes, a 38-year-old Wet'swet'en man, was shot dead by B.C. RCMP in Campbell River, B.C., on July 8, 2021. (Submitted by Jared Lowndes's family)

WARNING: This story contains details some readers may find distressing.

British Columbia's police watchdog says it has found reasonable grounds for possible charges against three RCMP officers after a 38-year-old Wet'suwet'en man was shot dead by police on Vancouver Island last July. 

Jared Lowndes, 38, was shot and killed by RCMP officers outside a Tim Hortons in Campbell River on July 8, 2021.

According to an IIO statement issued Thursday, an officer tried to check a parked blue Audi around 5:30 a.m. on July 8, 2021. The Audi drove away, and "there was contact between the Audi and police vehicle."

The officer did not pursue the car and advised other officers. 

A woman hugs another person.
Laura Holland, the mother of Jared Lowndes of the Wet'suwet'en Nation, spoke to supporters Thursday after the IIO released a statement about the 2021 death of her son. (Ben Nelms/CBC)

Around 9 a.m. that same day, police stopped the Audi at a drive-thru in the 2000 block of South Island Highway. 

Police fired shots, and the man died, the IIO said. 

At the time of the incident, RCMP said Lowndes fled from police until his car was rammed by police cruisers. They also said a police service dog was stabbed and killed during the altercation.

Chief Civilian Director Ronald J. MacDonald "determined that reasonable grounds exist to believe that three officers may have committed offences in relation to various uses of force," the IIO statement said. 

The IIO is preparing a report to submit to the B.C. Prosecution Service for consideration of charges in the coming months.

Speaking outside the offices of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs in downtown Vancouver on Thursday, Lowndes' mother, Laura Holland, told a crowd of supporters that Thursday's announcement was like reliving her son's death. 

"It felt like my son was murdered today," she said. 

A person at a rally holds a hand-made sign that says "Justice for Jared" beneath a grey sky.
People show support for Laura Holland, mother of Jared Lowndes, a Wet'suwet'en Nation man who was fatally shot by RCMP last July. (Ben Nelms/CBC)

"My son was a loving man," she said of Lowndes, who was a member of the Wet'suwet'en Nation's Laksilyu (Small Frog) Clan. "He did not deserve to die the way he did."

Holland said she was thinking of other Indigenous families who have lost loved ones at the hands of police.

"My heart is with them."

-- With files from Zahra Premji and David P. Ball

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