B.C. police watchdog asks Crown to consider charges against officers in 2021 shooting of Wet'suwet'en man

Investigators with British Columbia's independent police watchdog are asking the province's prosecution service to consider charges against three RCMP officers involvedin the shooting death of a Wet'suwet'en man more than two years ago.

A statement from B.C.'s Independent Investigations Office says it has submitted a report to the prosecution service for consideration of charges related to the July 2021 incident in Campbell River on Vancouver Island.

The statement says Ronald MacDonald, theIIO's chief civilian director, has reviewed the evidence and determined there are reasonable grounds to believe that "three officers may have committed offences in relation to various uses of force."

It says an interaction took place between a man and police at the drive-through window of a local business, during which police fired shots and the driver of the vehicle was killed.

Earlier reports identified the victim as 38-year-old Jared Lowndes of Campbell River.

Lowndes' death drew outcry from his family and advocates across B.C., includingmembers ofthe Wet'suwet'en Nation's Laksilyu (Small Frog) Clan to which he belonged.

"My son was a loving man," Lowndes' mother Laura Holland told CBCNewsin December 2022. "He did not deserve to die the way he did."

The IIO's statement says in order to approve any charges, the prosecution service must be satisfied that there is a substantial likelihood of conviction based on the evidence gathered by the IIO and that prosecution is in the public interest.