B.C.’s police watchdog has recommended charges against three RCMP officers involved in the shooting death of a 38-year-old Indigenous father of two in Campbell River two years ago.
Jared Lowndes was shot and killed in a Tim Hortons parking lot after evading police earlier on the morning of July 8, 2021.
A warrant had been issued for his arrest on March 21, 2021 for allegedly breaching a conditional sentence order for two firearms-possession-related offences dating to April 2013.
The Independent Investigations Office said in a statement on Friday that chief civilian director Ronald J. MacDonald determined “reasonable grounds exist” to lay charges against the three officers related to use of force. It is now up to the B.C. Prosecution Service to consider charges, which will be dependent on whether there is a substantial likelihood of conviction and if prosecution is in the public interest.
Fay Blaney, a close friend of Lowndes’ mother and great-aunt to his children, said the family welcomes the recommendation of charges.
“There’s a huge space, a huge empty space that’s been left in our lives,” Blaney said of Lowndes’ death.
“Our little ones are really struggling — his daughters and nieces and nephews.”
Blaney said she wants more Indigenous involvement in the process and for the IIO to be more than just “ex-cops investigating other cops.”
“We need our own in there to be investigating these cases,” she said, adding the family has met many other Indigenous families whose relatives have been killed by police.
Before being shot and killed, the Wet’suwet’en man stabbed and killed a police dog and injured a dog handler. The dog’s death prompted the RCMP detachment to hold a motorcade in the animal’s honour that weekend after issuing two statements detailing the police dog’s service and thanking the Campbell River community for its support following the dog’s death.
In July, Lowndes’ children and mother, Laura Holland, filed a lawsuit against B.C.’s minister of public safety and four members of the RCMP, claiming damages arising from Lowndes’ death.
The lawsuit alleges police were negligent when they boxed Lowndes in and let loose the police dog. B.C. RCMP and the IIO have said they will not make any additional comments on the case while the matter is before the courts.
