Protesters rally outside VPD to protest lack of charges against officers who killed man with schizophrenia

About a dozen protesters gathered in front of Vancouver Police headquarters Saturday morning in support of the family of Phuong Na (Tony) Du, a man with schizophrenia who was shot dead by police less than a minute after officers arrived on scene. 

The incident happened November 2014 when police responded to a call about a distraught man waiving a two-by-four at Knight Street near East 41st Avenue. 

Du's family, with support from the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, has launched a civil suit against the City of Vancouver and the police officers involved in the shooting.

"I can't stress enough how difficult it is for the family members of people who are killed," said Douglas King, the family's lawyer. 

"To have them wait over two years to get the results from an investigation, and then it not leading to charges, it's immensely stressful and they don't have legal aid for this sort of thing."

The province's Independent Investigations Office was called in to investigate and submitted its report to the Crown last fall. 

On Feb. 9, B.C.'s Criminal Justice Branch said the evidence didn't meet the criteria to charge the officers involved in connection with the shooting death. 

It said the the officer who shot Du believed his fellow officer's life was in danger. He fired his pistol "at the suspect's center of mass," the report said.

King said that report revealed that Du was killed between 18 and 25 seconds after police arrived on the scene — not long enough for police to to initiate a conversation with Du or establish his mental condition.

"The training that they give to officers and their reliance on use of force is having a profound impact on people's lives," he said.

"It's leading to people's deaths and it's shattering families apart."

At the time of the incident, police said officers "deployed bean bag rounds in an attempt to disarm him'" before opening fire.

With files from Brenna Rose