Surrey police shooting victim caught on surveillance video
Man, 20, was shot by transit police in grocery store after stabbing himself repeatedly
New surveillance video is shedding light on a man's mental state before he was fatally shot by police in Surrey, B.C., on Sunday.
The 20-year-old man can be seen in the convenience store video, pacing inside the store. According to store clerk Connie Yong, he demanded a knife.
"He was looking for a knife and I said I don't have a knife," she said.
"He was so focused on looking for a knife, something sharp. I thought he was going to get the sharp stuff and then kill someone."
Prior to going into the convenience store, the man was seen screaming and banging his head against a wall at the Surrey Central SkyTrain station. After not finding a knife at the convenience store, the man went to a nearby Safeway.
Witnesses say the man stole a knife, walked towards the bakery and stabbed himself repeatedly. Police tried to de-escalate the situation, but he was shot and died, the Independent Investigations Office said.
The agency, which provides civilian oversight of serious police incidents, said it will review the convenience store surveillance tape as well as 911 audio and post-mortem exams.
According to Vancouver police, about eight people are apprehended daily under the Mental Health Act, and between 30,000 and 40,000 calls they receive annually involve people who may be mentally ill.
Earlier this month, a man was taken into custody for threatening to kill police officers under the act. He was later released without charges.
In November, another mentally ill man was shot and killed by an officer in South Vancouver. At the time, Vancouver police said Phuong Na Du, 51, was distraught and waving a two-by-four.
He refused to comply with officers' directions and bean-bag rounds were fired in an attempt to disarm him, according to police.
With files from CBC's Richard Zussman