'No evidence' RCMP shooting victim fired at officers

More than a year and a half after a father was shot dead and his daughter injured in a police confrontation, B.C.'s police watchdog is challenging the RCMP's official account. 

John Buehler, 51, died after an Emergency Response Team was deployed to a forested area at Lake Kinbasket south of Valemount, in September, 2014. His adult daughter, Shanna Buehler, was shot and rushed to hospital.

Several hours after the fatal incident, the RCMP released a public statement saying, "Shots were fired and police officers returned fire." 

No 'exchange of gunfire' - police watchdog 

Now, after a lengthy investigation, B.C.'s Independent Investigations Office says there's no evidence to support that claim.

"There was no independent evidence to suggest an exchange of gunfire took place," said Marten Youssef, IIO's manager of strategic communication.

Youssef said shortly after the shootings, the RCMP provided information to the IIO that 'an exchange of gunfire took place between police officers and an adult male.'

"The IIO investigation identified no independent evidence to suggest the exchange of gunfire took place."

It's pretty difficult to mistake that there was a gunfight, when there was no gunfight."- B.C. Civil Liberties Association

The IIO investigation also concluded an officer "may have committed an offence" during the incident and has forwarded the file to Crown Counsel.

A Crown spokesman said no decisions have yet been made about whether a charge is warranted in this case.

RCMP 'seized 2 rifles at the scene'

The IIO does not make recommendations on charge approval. And the threshold of referring matters to the Crown is lower for the IIO than for other law enforcement agencies in B.C.  

Staff Sgt. Rob Vermuelen, Senior Media Relations Officer with B.C. RCMP Communication Services, said it would be inappropriate to comment on the IIO's findings while the matter is being reviewed by Crown.

"It's important not to make assumptions," said Vermeulen.  

But Josh Patterson, executive director of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, is upset.  

"It's a major concern to us when we find the information given to us by the RCMP on a critical incident like this turns out to be completely unsubstantiated."

"I'd be very interested to know why it was the RCMP got it so wrong in this case. Was it that officers and witnesses involved said things that weren't true? Were they mistaken?

"In my limited experience, it's pretty difficult to mistake that there was a gunfight, when there was no gunfight," said Patterson. 

There has been very little information released about the incident and about the man who was shot dead.

'I just don't think he had to die that way'

Valemount local Rene Nunweiler got to know John Buehler when her company provided him with internet service. 

She said he was a very religious man who told her he'd worked as a crew foreman in the Alberta oil patch. She said he was concerned about an imminent economic collapse and went camping on crown land with his grown daughter and dogs he had trained to guard them. 

Hikers and horseback riders on trails in the Kinbasket Lake area raised concerns about Buehler and his dogs.

And when Buehler moved into a trapper's cabin, the owner called RCMP.

Court records show Buehler was charged with mischief, uttering threats, and illegal gun possession three months before he died. The charges were never proven in court.

Buehler didn't show up for a court date. Two weeks later, the Emergency Response Team moved in.  According to RCMP, police began "surveillance on a cabin" that was illegally occupied.

Two days later, on September 17, 2014, the RCMP said a man and a woman on quads spotted officers and "shots were fired and police officers returned fire." That's the account that now has been challenged by the IIO.

The RCMP noted that two rifles were seized at the scene and secured as exhibits.

"I don't know if I can make sense of it," said Nunweiler, who said she was devastated by Buehler's death. "I was really upset.  I just don't think he had to die that way."