FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — A northeastern B.C. man has been shot and killed by the RCMP after a five-day standoff that started with a domestic dispute.
It’s the second time in less than a week that a northern B.C. resident has died in gunfire with police after a man died Saturday near New Hazelton while Mounties tried to arrest him.
The RCMP say the latest incident began Saturday when the 41-year-old resident of a farm near Buick Creek, north of Fort St. John, pursued a van carrying his wife, an undetermined number of children and a friend.
Police say he forced the vehicle to stop, then shot out the front tires but the van kept going to a nearby home, said RCMP Cpl. Dan Moskaluk.
He said the man did not follow his wife and children into the house.
“They’re into the house, he’s outside. He’s around the empty van demanding that they come out and return home with him,” Moskaluk said. ”They don’t let him in.”
The man then allegedly shot out the van’s rear tires and went home as police were called.
Attempts to communicate with the man were unsuccessful, despite the use of a translator to speak to the German-speaking man. A family friend also tried to contact him.
Finally on Wednesday, local Mounties summoned an emergency response team, which included a crisis negotiator, Moskaluk said.
“As in previous days repeated contact attempts were made with the assistance of an interpreter but again were made with negative results.”
Police spotted the man moving around his property several times carrying a gun.
But just before 1 p.m. he apparently tried to leave the farm and was confronted by emergency-response members.
“It is confirmed that shots were fired by police striking the male,” said Moskaluk.
Paramedics reached the man within two minutes but the wounds were fatal, he said.
Moskaluk could not say whether the man was armed when he was shot.
The man’s name was being withheld until relatives are notified.