Coroner's inquest into fatal B.C. hostage-taking set to begin - Action News
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British Columbia

Coroner's inquest into fatal B.C. hostage-taking set to begin

A coroner's inquest into a 2019 hostage-taking in Surrey, B.C., that resulted in the deathsof two people begins Tuesday.

Police shooting in Surrey in 2019 left 2 people dead, including hostage

A photo of a woman look straight towards the camera. She has brown hair, bangs and blue eyes.
Nona McEwan was killed by stray bullets fired by police while she was being held hostage by her boyfriend, Randy Crosson, in 2019. (Nona McEwan/Facebook)

A coroner's inquest into a 2019 hostage-taking in Surrey, B.C., that resulted in the deathsof two people begins Tuesday.

In March 2019, RCMP werecalled to a home in the city and found Randy Crosson barricaded inside. He was holding his girlfriend Nona McEwan hostage, according to the Independent Investigations Office (IIO), British Columbia's police oversight agency.

Officers shot and killed Crosson at the scene and theIIOsaid two bullets accidentally struck McEwan. She later died in hospital.

The goal of the inquest is not to make any finding of legal responsibility, but to determine the facts related to the death and to make recommendations to prevent deaths in similar circumstances.

The Ministry of Public Safety says the inquest also serves to ensure public confidence that the death of an individual "will not be overlooked, concealed or ignored."

Yellow police tape stretches across a property.
Part of the property in the 13300-block of 98A Avenue was covered with an orange tarp behind police tape after a hostage-taking left two people dead inside the home on March 29, 2019. (Tina Lovgreen/CBC)

The inquest will be heard by a presiding coroner, Margaret Janzen, and a jury.

They will hear evidence from witnesses who are under oath.

In 2020, the IIO cleared officers of wrongdoing in the deaths of Crosson and McEwan.

When officers entered the home, it said, they found Crosson holding a knife to McEwan's neck and he had what appeared to be a gun in his other hand. Several officers then shot at Crosson.

After her death, former colleagues described McEwan as having a"heart of gold."

The inquest begins Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. PT at the Coroners' Court in Burnaby, B.C.