Watchdog finds gunshot that prompted Vancouver officer to shoot suspect was colleague’s accidental discharge

A gunshot that led a Vancouver police officer to fire at a suspect during a November 2024 arrest came from another officer’s accidental discharge, according to the Independent Investigations Office. The suspect was shot in the upper arm, and IIO chief civilian director Jessica Berglund found that several errors by officers did not, individually or collectively, rise to the level of criminality.

Two plainclothes officers were responding to an early-morning 911 call about a BMW allegedly stolen at knifepoint. They boxed in the vehicle at a residential intersection in East Vancouver and ordered the driver out. One officer said he saw the suspect put the vehicle in reverse and tried to break the driver’s-side window with the butt of his pistol. He heard a pop and later realized his firearm had discharged accidentally.

The officer then heard two more pops and saw the suspect’s behaviour change. The driver unlocked the door, got out and shouted, “Don’t kill me!” The second officer, positioned on the passenger side, said he fired twice into the BMW because he believed the initial gunshot had come from inside the vehicle. Berglund found that assumption reasonable and concluded the use of force was justified to protect the other officer from a perceived threat of death or grievous bodily harm.

The arrest occurred at about 4 a.m. in the dark, and no weapon was found in the vehicle. Police had earlier described the suspect as armed and dangerous after seeing the BMW driven at very high speeds in a dangerous manner. Berglund said firearms are generally not intended for use as impact tools because of accidental-discharge and damage risks, but concluded the pistol’s misuse did not meet the criminal test for careless use of a firearm.

The report also says both officers had been directed to stand down their efforts to arrest the suspect but did not do so. In a hospital interview, the suspect admitted stealing the BMW but said he was struggling to put it in park when he was shot. The vehicle had a non-standard gear-selection system with a push-button parking brake, according to the report.