FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — A man who shot out the tires of a vehicle containing his family before barricading himself in his home for four days tried to flee with a rifle when a Mountie shot him, say RCMP in Fort St. John, B.C.
Cpl. Dan Moskaluk said the 41-year-old man spoke only German and refused to communicate with an interpreter during the standoff at a farm.
Police surrounded the man’s property on Saturday after he fired shots at a van carrying his wife and children before fleeing to his home and refusing police attempts to coax him out.
Moskaluk said the Russian-German farmer, whose name hasn’t been released, was killed Wednesday after he tried to escape with a rifle.
He said police responded to a domestic violence complaint on Saturday.
“The response to that, of course, would be immediate, given the nature of the call but in essence it began as a domestic relationship assault and threat with weapon,” he said Thursday.
Moskaluk said the incident began when the man pursued a van containing his family and a family friend and used his own vehicle to force them to come to a stop. At that point, he said, the man shot out the front tires of the van.
It managed to make it to a nearby residence where the family sought refuge, Moskaluk said.
But the man continued to shoot the back tires of the empty van and demanded that his family return home with him, he said.
“The individual refused to speak with police and barricaded himself in (his) home,” he said.