B.C.’s civilian-led police watchdog agency has released details of its investigation into the fatal shooting of an Indigenous man in 2021 near Tofino, eight months after finding that the officers involved did not commit an offence.
Julian Jones, a 28-year-old member of the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation, died after the shooting on Feb. 27, 2021 in the community of Opitsaht on Meares Island.
At the time, the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council called the decision by the Independent Investigations Office, or IIO, not to refer the incident to Crown counsel for possible charges “disillusioning and frustrating.”
Details of the decision were held back out of concern they could have been prejudicial to court proceedings related to the case. The full report was released Friday.
It said Tofino RCMP had been called that evening to investigate a report from a woman who said she “had been taken advantage of sexually” while drinking with two men and was being held against her will in a home.
Police took a boat to Meares Island and arrived at the home in Opitsaht intending to check on the caller’s well-being. People inside did not want to let the officers in so they kicked the door down, the woman told the IIO.
But one of the officers told the IIO that the door was actually opened up after he had warned it was going to be kicked in. He said the room was “pitch black” and he shone his flashlight inside.
The officers arrested a man at the front door, but were confronted by another man brandishing files, the report said.
One of the officers said the second man was upset about the other man getting arrested and said things like “I’m gonna kill you.” The officer recalled saying “Don’t do this,” as the man kept coming at him.
“They were in a dark, cluttered room, already with one resistant individual, unable reasonably to retreat because of the need to protect the complainant,” the report said.
It said police made an initial attempt to de-escalate the situation before deploying a Taser.
The man dropped to the floor after he was hit by the Taser, then started advancing again, the report said. At that point, one of the officers fired three rounds from his pistol, hitting the man twice. In that situation, “immediate defensive action against him using lethal force was justified, from either officer,” the report said.
The man died at the scene. The cause of death was given as gunshot wounds to the chest.
The IIO was notified and carried out an investigation involving 18 civilian witnesses and five officers.
It concluded that the two officers who went to Opitsaht were in a situation “where they reasonably believed they were at risk of grievous bodily harm” because a man was advancing on them with files “that might reasonably be perceived to be knives.”
The report said that overall, the civilian witnesses provided “a somewhat inconsistent and incomplete narrative of what happened when [the victim] came out of the bedroom and confronted the officers.”
At least two of the other witnesses who were at the scene said they did not think that the victim had been aggressive.
Tla-o-qui-taht tribal administrator Jim Chisholm said Friday that a group from the nation, including Jones’ family, met with IIO representatives this week in Tofino.
“We are disappointed with the decision,” he said. “We’re disappointed that it didn’t go to Crown for prosecution. We didn’t hear evidence that would make us feel comfortable that this was the right decision to make.”
Chisholm said the nation’s leadership and the entire community will support the family in how it proceeds, “whether they will try and overturn this decision or whatever.”
He said the nation has a membership of about 1,200 or 1,300 and is very close-knit, with Opitsaht home to about 140 members
The IIO’s Indigenous civilian monitor, Thomas George, a Meares Island resident, also filed a report about the case. His appointment was a first for the IIO.
George said in his report that the IIO investigators working on the case were “friendly but neutral.”
“I have nothing to suggest the IIO could do better in interacting with the community,” he said. “Everything was thoroughly done.”
He said that cultural healing is necessary for Jones’ family and for the victim of the alleged assault.
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